United States v. Walters

563 F. Supp. 2d 45, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42722, 2008 WL 2235335
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedJune 2, 2008
DocketCriminal 07-346(JDB)
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 563 F. Supp. 2d 45 (United States v. Walters) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Walters, 563 F. Supp. 2d 45, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42722, 2008 WL 2235335 (D.D.C. 2008).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOHN D. BATES, District Judge.

On May 19, 2008, and May 22, 2008, the Court held a hearing on defendant Terrence Walters’ motion to suppress. Walters seeks to suppress tangible evidence seized during the search of his person and automobile on November 14, 2007, and during the subsequent search of his apartment on November 19, 2007. He also seeks to suppress statements he made to the United States Park Police before and after his arrest. At the hearing, the government conceded that Walters’ statements on the scene following his arrest were obtained in violation of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), and therefore would not be used at trial. Moreover, the government represented that it would not rely on or admit any statement that Walters later made at the station house, since the videotape of that statement cannot be found. The Court will address here the portions of Walters’ motion that remain in dispute.

On the evening of November 14, 2007, Detective Glenn Luppino of the United States Park Police was sitting in an unmarked cruiser at a red light at the intersection of South Capitol and Galveston Streets, N.W., in Washington, D.C. Tr. of Motions Hr’g at 14. In the car with Detective Luppino were three other United States Park Police officers: Detective Sergeant Gregory Monahan, Detective Timothy Hodge, and Detective Robert Scherr. Id. at 13. To Luppino’s right, he saw Walters’ blue four-door Buick about to cross in front of the cruiser. Id. at 14. As the Buick proceeded through the intersection directly in front of him, Luppino noticed that the vehicle’s windows were heavily tinted and obscured any view into the interior. Id. at 18. Believing Walters’ windows were tinted in violation of the law, Luppino decided to initiate a traffic stop for a window tint violation. Id. at 14.

After Luppino activated the cruiser’s emergency lights and sirens, Walters pulled over to the side of the road. Sergeant Monahan approached the vehicle first to inform Walters of the reason for the traffic stop and asked for Walters’ license and registration. Id. at 103. Before Walters had time to retrieve the documentation, Monahan was struck by the “strong odor” of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. Id. at 103-04. By this time, Luppino had joined Monahan at the driver’s side window, and he too testified that “the first thing [he] noticed was the strong odor of marijuana, burning marijuana that was emanating from within the car.” Id. at 22. According to the officers, Walters appeared nervous, and his hands were visibly shaking. Id. at 105.

Monahan told Walters the officers smelled marijuana and asked him if he had any narcotics, specifically marijuana, on his person or in the vehicle. Id. at 104. In response to Monahan’s question, Walters “made a quick motion towards his right side.” Id. at 105. Because the traf- *48 fíe stop was initiated in a high-crime area and because Monahan was concerned that Walters might be reaching for a weapon, he quickly grabbed Walters’ hands before he could make contact with his waistband or jacket. Id. at 106. Monahan then asked Walters again if he had anything on him, and Walters “indicated that he had marijuana on his person, and that it was on his right side.” Id. at 108. 1 Walters turned toward the driver’s side of the vehicle to give the officers access to his outer right jacket pocket, and Luppino reached into the pocket and recovered marijuana and a lighter. Id. Walters was then asked to step out of the vehicle and was placed under arrest, and Luppino and Hodge began searching the vehicle. Id.

The officers recovered a box of Phillies Blunt Strawberry cigars from the front seat, and they found money and a cell phone on Walters. In a backpack on the floorboard behind the passenger seat, the officers found 519 grams of cocaine, a loaded and operable Taurus 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, mail matter, Walters’ passport, and a wallet. Gov’t Opp. at 3. Three days later, on November 19, 2007, officers executed a search warrant on Walters’ Washington, D.C. apartment and recovered thirty-three grams of crack cocaine, drug paraphernalia, tally sheets, an unloaded .380 caliber semi-automatic handgun, a loaded .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun, ammunition, and a cleaning kit. Id. at 4-5.

In support of his motion to suppress, Walters first argues that based upon the officers’ misunderstanding of D.C.Code § 50-2207.02, there was no probable cause for the initial traffic stop. See Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 810, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996) (“As a general matter, the decision to stop an automobile is reasonable where the police have probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred.”). Luppino correctly testified that District of Columbia law requires vehicles to allow seventy percent of available light to transmit through the front driver and passenger windows. Tr. of Motions Hr’g at 15; D.C.Code § 50-2207.02(a)(l). However, when an out-of-state vehicle is in the District of Columbia, Luppino testified that it was his belief that District of Columbia law required the out-of-state vehicle to be in compliance with its own state’s window tint regulations. Tr. of Motions Hr’g at 53. Because Walters’ vehicle was registered in Maryland and because Luppino believed that Walters’ window tint allowed less than Maryland’s requirement of thirty-five percent of available light to transmit through the front side windows, Luppino believed Walters was in violation of Maryland’s tint regulations and was therefore in violation of District of Columbia law. Id. In fact, however, as the government now acknowledges, District of Columbia law provides that no vehicle may be operated or parked upon the public streets or spaces of the District of Columbia with a “front windshield or front side windows that allow less than 70% light transmittance,” regardless of where the car is registered. D.C.Code § 50-2207.02(a)(i )(A).

Walters is correct in asserting that “[s]tops premised on a mistake of law, even a reasonable, good-faith mistake, are generally held to be unconstitutional.” United States v. Booker, 496 F.3d 717, 722 (D.C.Cir.2007) (quoting United States v. Coplin, 463 F.3d 96, 101 (1st Cir.2006)). *49 “A stop is lawful despite a mistake of law, however, if an objectively valid basis for the stop nonetheless exists.” Id. (citing United States v.

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Bluebook (online)
563 F. Supp. 2d 45, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42722, 2008 WL 2235335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-walters-dcd-2008.