United States v. Walker

840 F.3d 477, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 18651, 2016 WL 6080792
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedOctober 18, 2016
DocketNo. 15-2921
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 840 F.3d 477 (United States v. Walker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Walker, 840 F.3d 477, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 18651, 2016 WL 6080792 (7th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

KELLY, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted Michael Walker of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Based on Walker’s criminal history, the district court sentenced him to 20 years in prison under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). On appeal, Walker challenges the denial of his motions to suppress evidence and to dismiss on speedy-trial grounds. He also argues that the district court abused its discretion by limiting his cross-examination at trial of one of the government’s witnesses, and by rejecting his proposed jury instructions. Finally, he contends that the district court erred by determining that he qualified as an armed career criminal. Having jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm Walker’s conviction, but vacate his sentence and remand for resen-tencing.

I. Background

On January 21, 2014, Walker was charged in a two-count indictment with being a felon in possession of a firearm, and being a felon in possession of ammunition, both in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g) and 924(e). Walker made his initial appearance three days later, and, in mid-February, he filed several motions, including a motion to suppress evidence obtained during a traffic stop. In mid-June, the suppression motion was denied after an evidentiary hearing. Shortly thereafter, Walker’s counsel moved on Walker’s behalf for a competency evaluation. While the competency proceedings were pending, Walker moved to dismiss on speedy-trial grounds. In December, the district court found Walker to be competent, and denied his motion to dismiss. On January 5, 2015, the case proceeded to a jury trial, where Walker was convicted on both counts. In August, the district court sentenced Walker to 20 years in prison after determining that he qualified as an armed career criminal based on his prior Minnesota convictions for third-degree burglary, attempted aggravated robbery with a dangerous weapon, and second-degree burglary. Walker filed a timely notice of appeal.

II. Discussion

A. Motion to Suppress Evidence

During the suppression hearing before a magistrate judge, Minneapolis police officers James Golgart and Jeremy Foster testified as follows. In the early morning hours of September 30, 2013, Golgart and Foster were on patrol, when Walker, driving a white BMW with a cracked windshield, passed their squad car. As the BMW passed Golgart and Foster, they [482]*482could see that its windshield was cracked: Golgart stated that the crack started on the passenger side and “spider[ed]” over to the driver’s side of the vehicle in such a manner that it obstructed the driver’s view; Foster stated that the .windshield was cracked on the passenger side, but that the crack did not extend all the way across the windshield. The officers followed the BMW for two blocks, during which time it blocked a crosswalk when it stopped at a traffic light. The officers initiated a traffic stop, and approached the BMW. As soon as the windows of the BMW were rolled down, they could both smell “fresh,” i.e., unburned, marijuana, an odor they had been trained to detect during their training as police officers. Walker appeared to be very nervous. Golgart then decided to search the BMW, arid both Walker and his passenger were secured in the squad car. During Golgart’s search of the passenger compartment of the BMW, he did not find any marijuana, but he did find under the' driver’s seat a glass pipe and a rock-like substance he believed to be cocaine. At that point, Golgart informed Walker and the passenger that they were under arrest, and continued searching the BMW. In the trunk, Golgart discovered a 12-gauge shotgun, a box of shotgun shells in a bag from the sporting goods store Cabela’s, and a high-capacity rifle magazine filled with ammunition. Golgart and Foster subsequently transported Walker and the passenger to the Hennepin County Jail, where jail personnel discovered marijuana in the passenger’s anus.

Golgart acknowledged that, in 2010, he had been the subject of an internal affairs (IA) investigation regarding an incident in which he examined a suspicious suitcase without contacting the bomb squad. He testified that he was terminated from the police department after the investigators concluded that he had given a false statement during the IA investigation, but that his termination was later rescinded and replaced with a 40-hour suspension without pay for his failure to use proper discretion regarding the suspicious suitcase.

The magistrate judge recommended denial of Walker’s suppression motion, reasoning that—whether or not the crack in the windshield actually obstructed Walker’s vision—the officers’ observations, regarding the windshield provided a particularized and objective basis to stop the vehicle in order to determine whether there was a violation of Minnesota Statutes § 169.71(a)(1), which provides that a person shall not operate a motor vehicle with a windshield cracked to an extent to limit or obstruct proper vision. The magistrate judge further reasoned that the smell of marijuana and Walker’s nervousness established probable cause for the warrantless search of the BMW under the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. Walker objected to the recommendation, contending that the magistrate judge had accepted Golgart’s testimony as credible without considering the IA investigation. The district court summarily overruled Walker’s objection, adopted the recommendation, and denied the suppression motion. The district court later denied Walker’s motion to reopen the suppression issue to present a newspaper article discussing the fact that crosswalks in Minneapolis required frequent repainting.

On appeal, Walker does not dispute that the BMW’s windshield was cracked; he asserts only- that the windshield was not cracked to such an extent that it impeded the driver’s view, and he argues that Golgart therefore lacked a valid basis for the traffic stop. Walker also argues that Golgart impermissibly extended the traffic stop beyond the time necessary to investigate the cracked windshield, [483]*483citing Rodriguez v. United States, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 1609, 1614, 191 L.Ed.2d 492 (2015), which held that an officer’s authority for conducting a traffic stop ends when tasks related to the traffic infraction are, or reasonably should have been, completed.

“We review the denial of a motion to suppress de novo but the underlying factual determinations for clear error, giving due weight to inferences drawn by law enforcement officials.” United States v. Hurd, 785 F.3d 311, 314 (8th Cir. 2015) (quoting United States v. Clutter, 674 F.3d 980, 982 (8th Cir. 2012)). We will affirm unless the denial of the motion is unsupported by substantial evidence, is based on an erroneous interpretation of the law, or it is clear, based on-the entire record, that a mistake was made. United States v. Zamora-Lopez, 685 F.3d 787, 789 (8th Cir. 2012) (citing United States v. Payne, 534 F.3d 948, 950-51 (8th Cir. 2008)).

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Bluebook (online)
840 F.3d 477, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 18651, 2016 WL 6080792, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-walker-ca7-2016.