U.S. v. Fields

Citation113 F.3d 313
Decision Date12 May 1997
Docket NumberNos. 431,432,D,s. 431
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. James FIELDS; Christopher Crawley, Defendants-Appellants. ockets 96-1168, 96-1257.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

William M. Bloss, New Haven, CT (Jacobs, Grudberg, Belt & Dow, of counsel), for Defendant-Appellant Christopher Crawley.

Cheryl J. Sturm, West Chester, PA (Thomas G. Dennis, Federal Public Defender for the District of Connecticut, Hartford, CT, filed brief), for Defendant-Appellant James Fields.

Jeffrey A. Meyer, Assistant United States Attorney, New Haven, CT (Christopher F. Droney, United States Attorney, John H. Durham, Deputy United States Attorney, John A. Danaher III, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, Robert O. Hickey, Law Student Intern, on the brief and of counsel), for Appellee United States of America.

Before: OAKES, CARDAMONE, and MAHONEY *, Circuit Judges.

CARDAMONE, Circuit Judge:

On a dark December night in 1994 two New Haven, Connecticut police officers, acting on a tip from a reliable informant, stood in the side yard of a three-family apartment house and peered into a window whose shade was partially raised. Although the bedroom they observed was that of a nine-year-old boy--decorated in "Sesame Street" style--its occupants were two adults, the defendants James Fields and Christopher Crawley, who were "bagging" $40,000 worth of crack cocaine for resale. The police subsequently entered the apartment, without a warrant, and arrested both defendants.

The question we are called upon to answer is whether the action of the police of looking in the window constituted an unjustifiable intrusion on defendants' privacy so as to violate the Fourth Amendment. Although most people prefer their personal life to remain secret, those who desire privacy must take reasonable steps to secure it. When a person's activities are conducted with no sense of privacy, society will not recognize a subjective preference for secrecy as reasonable. Here, defendants failed to take the minimal steps necessary to render their expectations of privacy reasonable--the police surveillance, therefore, does not violate defendants' Fourth Amendment rights.

BACKGROUND
The Setting

The New Haven apartment at 381 Edgewood Avenue where Fields and Crawley were arrested was the primary residence of Carlyn Warner, who rented it and lived there with her daughter and nine-year-old son. The ground floor apartment is one of three in the building. In July 1994 defendant Fields began using it several times a week to cook and cut crack cocaine. Beginning in the fall of 1994 he started paying Warner $125 per week for the privilege. He had a key and could come and go as he pleased, even when Warner was absent. Warner testified that in The defendants conducted their cocaine operations in the bedroom of Warner's son. Located in the rear of the apartment, it has two windows, both of which face onto the apartment house's side yard, which is partially enclosed by a chain link fence. Warner testified that when Fields and Crawley were in the bedroom with the door shut, she would not disturb them.

the six months prior to his arrest, Fields--usually accompanied by Crawley--came to the apartment 40 or 50 times, and on the night of their arrests, both defendants were present with her express permission. Although Fields and Crawley occasionally drank beer and watched television in the apartment, the primary reason for their presence was business. Neither defendant lived at that address, kept clothing or personal items on the premises or was named on the lease.

The Events of December 15, 1994

On the night of the arrests, December 15, 1994, the defendants arrived together at 7:00 p.m., and went right to the rear bedroom to bag crack cocaine. They stayed in the bedroom throughout the evening. At 7:45 p.m., some 45 minutes after the defendants had arrived at the apartment, New Haven Police Lieutenant William White received a telephone call from a "known and reliable" informant. Lt. White was leader of the police department's intelligence unit, specializing in investigations of drug-dealing street gangs.

The informant--who had in the past given Lt. White information leading to arrests--informed him that James Fields and a person known as "Chris" were bagging crack cocaine at the rear apartment on the first floor of a woman's house located at 381 Edgewood Avenue. The informant advised Lt. White that the defendants' activities were visible through the window and that "they were at the point where they could leave at any time." The informant also identified the defendants' car as a blue Buick, provided the license plate number, and told the officer where it was parked.

Fields and Crawley were well-known to the police. Fields had been identified as the leader of a violent narcotics gang known as the Hurlburt Street Posse, and previously had been arrested and convicted on narcotics-related charges. Crawley was known to associate with Fields and lived in the area where Fields' gang operated. Because the informant said that the defendants would be leaving shortly, Lt. White did not believe he had time to get a search warrant, even were this "raw information" sufficient to support its issuance, which he doubted. Instead, he assembled a team of investigators to check out the tip.

The police arrived at Edgewood Avenue at 8:25 p.m. and examined the area. It was dark out. In a driveway on an adjacent street, officers found the blue Buick in the location and with the license plate the informant had described. Lt. White and another officer set off for the 381 Edgewood Avenue premises. Because they could not see into the windows of Warner's apartment from the public sidewalk or from the street, Lt. White and his fellow officer entered the fenced-in rear yard and from there went into the fenced-in side yard to see into the building better. At the rear of the side yard, the officers found a window whose venetian blinds were raised five or six inches. Upon looking in, they saw Fields and Crawley in a well-lit bedroom bagging what appeared to be crack cocaine. Defendants were clearly visible from the side yard and the officers did not need to stand on tiptoes or to lean against the house to see inside the bedroom.

It was now 9:00 p.m., 75 minutes after the informant had called and advised the police that the defendants would be leaving "shortly." The district court later found that it would have taken the police over an hour to get a warrant, although concededly they did not attempt to do so after looking in the window. Instead, they devised a plan either to roust the defendants from the building or to gain entry themselves. Two uniformed officers were to knock at the front door, while Lt. White and three others would wait in the rear. The occupants of the bedroom on being discovered would presumably run out the back door with the drugs right into the hands of the waiting police.

The plan did not work. When Lt. White and the other officers entered the rear yard in order to get into position, a man on the back porch yelled out "5-0," a slang term for "police," and then went inside the building, closing the door behind him. The officers, knowing that Fields had a history of violence and that he might be armed, and believing that the alerted defendants would destroy evidence, decided to enter the building immediately. They forced open the locked back door of the building using a battering ram and gained entry to the apartment through its open door. Shouting "police," the officers proceeded to conduct a security sweep of the apartment and secured its occupants. Fields and Crawley attempted to flee, but were apprehended in the front bedroom. In that bedroom under a mattress, police discovered a loaded semi-automatic weapon well within Fields' reach. The officers also observed what appeared to be crack cocaine on a table in the back bedroom.

After securing the apartment, two officers left to obtain a search warrant, which was brought to the house an hour and a half later. Meanwhile, Warner, after her rights were explained to her, consented in writing to a search of her apartment. When the officers returned with the warrant, the premises was searched, and 453.76 grams of crack cocaine were seized from the rear bedroom.

Proceedings in the District Court

Fields and Crawley were indicted on one count of conspiring to distribute and one count of possessing with intent to distribute 50 or more grams of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a)(1). Before trial, they moved to suppress the evidence seized at the apartment, and in connection with that motion, moved for disclosure of the informant's identity. The district court then ordered the government to produce the informant for an in camera interview outside the presence of defense counsel. After the interview was conducted, both of the defendants' motions were denied. Fields and Crawley later moved to dismiss the indictment or to stay proceedings on the ground that the New Haven jury pool from which the grand and petit juries were drawn was not selected in conformity with the Fifth and Sixth Amendments and the Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968, 28 U.S.C. § 1861 et seq. The district court denied this motion as well.

Crawley entered a guilty plea to one count of the indictment, conditioned on his right to appeal from the denial of the motion to suppress. Fields proceeded to trial, and after four days a jury found him guilty on both counts of the indictment. Before sentencing, the defendants unsuccessfully moved to preclude application of both the statutory penalty and the Sentencing Guidelines for cocaine base. Fields was sentenced to 20 years in prison, eight years supervised release, a $25,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment. Crawley received a six year sentence, five years supervised release, and a $50 special assessment. From their...

To continue reading

Request your trial
254 cases
  • Mosby v. Senkowski
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit
    • 30 d4 Novembro d4 2006
    ...to conclude that Mosby's presence at 46 Costar was more fleeting than even that of an overnight houseguest. Cf. United States v. Fields, 113 F.3d 313, 320 (2d Cir.1997) ("[S]ociety recognizes as legitimate the expectation of privacy possessed by an overnight guest— even though he has at bes......
  • State v. Houghtaling, AC 35720
    • United States
    • Connecticut Court of Appeals
    • 17 d2 Março d2 2015
    ...We observe that "[p]rivacy expectations do not hinge on the nature of defendant's activities—innocent or criminal." United States v. Fields, 113 F.3d 313, 321 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 976, 118 S. Ct. 434, 139 L. Ed. 2d 334 (1997); id., 320 (defendant possessed reasonable expectatio......
  • State v. Staker
    • United States
    • Montana Supreme Court
    • 22 d2 Junho d2 2021
    ...evidence, and prevention of escape absent exigent circumstances)).16 See 1889 Mont. Const. art. III, § 7.17 Accord United States v. Fields , 113 F.3d 313, 321 (2d Cir. 1997) (the reasonableness of "[p]rivacy expectations do[es] not hinge on the nature of defendant's activities—innocent or c......
  • U.S. v. Pierce
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of New York
    • 22 d5 Setembro d5 2006
    ...continued cooperation in furnishing information regarding violations of law. Roviaro, 353 U.S. at 59, 77 S.Ct. 623; United States v. Fields, 113 F.3d 313, 324 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 976, 118 S.Ct. 434, 139 L.Ed.2d 334 (1997). It is equally permissible to withhold information from......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
2 books & journal articles

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT