United States v. Westmoreland

982 F. Supp. 376, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19088, 1997 WL 691047
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. West Virginia
DecidedOctober 9, 1997
DocketNo. CRIM.A. 3:97-00034
StatusPublished

This text of 982 F. Supp. 376 (United States v. Westmoreland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Westmoreland, 982 F. Supp. 376, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19088, 1997 WL 691047 (S.D.W. Va. 1997).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

GOODWIN, District Judge.

Pending before the Court is defendant Dr. Danny Westmoreland’s motion to suppress evidence seized by federal and state law enforcement agents during a June 23,1995 raid on Westmoreland’s home and medical office. Although law enforcement agents conducted the raid pursuant to a valid search warrant, the defendant argues that the manner in which the agents executed the raid violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free from “unreasonable searches and seizures.” The agents’ conduct during the June 23,1995 raid was outrageous and unreasonable. However, Westmoreland’s motion to suppress fails as a [378]*378matter of substantive Fourth Amendment law because the agents did not direct their unreasonable conduct at the defendant, but rather at patients in the defendant’s waiting room. Abuses suffered by the doctor’s patients do not implicate Westmoreland’s personal Fourth Amendment rights. Accordingly, the Court must DENY the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence seized during the June 23,1995 raid.

For the last eighty years, the federal judiciary has resorted to the exclusionary rule to discourage unreasonable police conduct. See Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383, 34 S.Ct. 341, 58 L.Ed. 652 (1914) (providing U.S. Supreme Court’s initial articulation of exclusionary remedy). However, the exclusionary rule is not the only method by which unlawful police conduct may be discouraged. Civil remedies may be available to redress the wrongs suffered by the patients. Furthermore, given the inexplicable and egregious conduct of agents in this case, the Court has every reason to expect that the executive branch, which oversees and leads federal law enforcement agencies, will address this situation. The United States Attorney General, who is the chief federal law enforcement official, and her agent, the United States Attorney, are executive branch officials and officers of the court. As such, they have both the power and the duty to ensure that law enforcement agents observe constitutional requirements during searches and seizures. Further, they have the ability to ensure that unreasonable police conduct does not go unremediated.

Also pending before the Court is the defendant’s motion to dismiss counts twenty-five through thirty-five of the indictment. For reasons stated herein, the defendant’s motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. The Court ORDERS that all references to “distribution” and 21 U.S.C. § 860, and the language, “within one thousand (1,000) feet of the real property comprising a public secondary school, namely, Wahama High School,” be stricken from the indictment.

Factual Summaiy

In a thirty-seven count indictment, the United States charged defendant Dr. Danny Westmoreland with Medicaid fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 2, unlawfid distribution by prescribing, dispensing, and administering controlled substances to patients in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 860, and failure to keep accurate records of Schedule II drugs administered to patients in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 842(a)(5). These charges resulted from a lengthy investigation conducted by federal agents working in conjunction with West Virginia law enforcement. During the course of the investigation, several of Westmoreland’s employees provided information to the agents. In particular, Sheila Russell Murphy, a billing clerk, provided names of patients suspected of drug abuse and explained Westmoreland’s billing code system. The agents also conducted undercover surveillance of Westmoreland at the Westmoreland Family Care Center, a building that housed both Westmoreland’s medical office and his family home. The Westmore-land Family Care Center is located in Mason County, West Virginia.

The investigation culminated in a highly orchestrated raid of the Westmoreland Family Care Center on June 23, 1995. Law enforcement agents conducted this raid as a full-scale assault. After obtaining a search warrant authorizing the seizure of medical records and patient files, the investigating agents assembled a team of officers from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Postal Inspector’s Office, the West Virginia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Kanawha County Sheriffs Department, and the West Virginia State Police. In total, seventeen officers were organized to execute the search warrant.

At 8:00 A.M. on June 23,1995, members of the team met at the Charleston, West Virginia, DEA office to review the operational plan. There was only one sentence in the operational plan that mentioned a potential threat to law enforcement: “Son may have access to rifle in residence.” (Suppression Hr’g Tr. at 169.) There was no evidence that agents attempted to confirm that Westmore-land’s son had access to a riñe or that he would be present during the search. Furthermore, although Agent Sherri Lanham [379]*379testified that there was some discussion of “alleged controlled substance abuse,” (Suppression Hr’g Tr. at 212), it is clear that the agents knew the search warrant for documents and files would be executed during business hours in a small-town doctor’s home and office, with patients and staff present.

Despite the improbability of violent resistance, the agents prepared as if they would confront heavily armed and dangerous criminals during the raid. With few exceptions, members of the team carried guns and wore bulletproof vests. The DEA agents wore civilian clothing and flak jackets with a DEA insignia on the back. The team even found it necessary to obtain a battering ram.

The team of agents then traveled to a Mason County location near the Westmore-land Family Care Center. There, the team met the West Virginia state officers. West Virginia State Police Sergeant Dale Hum-phreys expressed concern about the amount of force the team planned to use: “[Something to the fact that I didn’t think we needed a battering ram.” (Suppression Hr’g Tr. at 26.) Humphreys also noted to the agents that their plan for executing the search warrant might be inappropriate, given the circumstances:

I explained to them that this was a doctor’s office and I most likely would know the people inside. I felt that there would be some people in there, a lot of people that wasn’t expecting this. So, I suggested that we, that I would go in____

(Suppression Hr’g Tr. at 26.)

Despite Sergeant Humphreys’s sensible objections, the team proceeded as planned and blocked off streets near the Westmore-land Family Care Center. Agents moved in for the raid.

What happened next was vividly recounted at the suppression hearing by patients who had the misfortune of scheduling appointments with Westmoreland that morning. Joyce Day, a patient seated in the waiting room, described the scene:

I was sitting there. I had a book on my lap and the TV was just above me.

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Bluebook (online)
982 F. Supp. 376, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19088, 1997 WL 691047, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-westmoreland-wvsd-1997.