U.S. v. Guimond, 95-6207

Decision Date23 July 1997
Docket NumberNo. 95-6207,95-6207
Citation116 F.3d 166
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Donald Eric GUIMOND; Paschalis Tsilias, Defendants-Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Christopher E. Cotten, (argued and briefed), Office of the U.S. Attorney, Memphis, TN, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Doris A. Randle-Holt, (argued and briefed), Office of the Federal Public Defender, Memphis, TN, Paula Skahan, (argued and briefed), Thompson & Skahan, Memphis, TN, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before: RYAN and NORRIS, Circuit Judges; DOWD, District Judge. *

OPINION

ALAN E. NORRIS, Circuit Judge.

The United States appeals from the district court's order granting defendants' motion to suppress evidence seized during a warrantless search of a vehicle belonging to defendant, Donald Eric Guimond. We reverse and remand to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this decision.

I.

On January 5, 1995, Guimond was stopped for speeding by Deputy Sheriff Charles Tartera, who worked with the Sheriff's Department Drug Interdiction Unit in Memphis, Tennessee. When he was stopped, Guimond was driving on Interstate 40 in a mini-van bearing Quebec license plates, and he was travelling sixty-five miles-per-hour in a fifty-five mile-per-hour zone. Defendant, Paschalis Tsilias, was sitting in the front passenger seat of the mini-van. A video camera equipped with a digital clock was installed in Deputy Tartera's squad car, and it recorded both the stop, and the subsequent conversation between Tartera and Guimond.

Deputy Tartera pulled the mini-van over just before 2:30 p.m. Shortly thereafter, and before Tartera reached the mini-van, Guimond exited from the driver's side. At 2:30:15, Tartera asked Guimond to sit in the back seat of the squad car, and he requested Guimond's driver's license. Guimond entered the squad car, produced a valid Quebec license and told Tartera that he and Tsilias had vacationed in Los Angeles for a few days and that they were on their way home. At 2:31:40, Tartera told Guimond that he would issue him a traffic warning citation rather than a violation notice for speeding. While Tartera was completing the warning citation, he asked Guimond about his travel plans and route. Guimond stated that he was unsure about their exact route because his passenger, Tsilias, was in charge of the map. Tartera asked if the passenger had "helped him drive." Although Guimond's answer could not be heard on the videotape, Tartera testified that Guimond replied in the affirmative.

At 2:36:40, Deputy Tartera handed the citation book to Guimond and asked him to read and sign it, which was standard procedure. Tartera then stated that he was going to ask Tsilias a few questions and check his driver's license. Leaving Guimond in the back seat of the squad car, Tartera approached the passenger side of the mini-van in order to speak with Tsilias. Tsilias told the officer that he had no driver's license, that he had not been driving, and that he was "just co-piloting for Guimond." Otherwise, Tsilias corroborated Guimond's statement as to where they had been and where they were going. While Tartera was speaking with Tsilias, he noticed that the mini-van's spare tire was inside the vehicle, rather than in its proper storage compartment, and that the vehicle had only two rows of seats, rather than three.

Tartera returned to the squad car approximately two minutes after he left to question Tsilias. Tartera reported Tsilias' statements to Guimond and told Guimond that he was confused because he understood Guimond to have said earlier that Tsilias had helped him with the driving. Guimond responded that what he meant was that Tsilias had helped with the driving by being a "co-pilot type of operator," and that he had helped with directions. Around that time, Guimond returned the citation book with the signed citation to Tartera. Tartera then asked if Guimond had any drugs or weapons in the mini-van. Guimond replied in the negative. Tartera asked if Guimond would mind if he "had a look inside." Guimond gave oral and written permission to search while he was still seated in the back seat of the squad car.

Another officer arrived to assist Tartera in searching the mini-van. When Tartera opened the passenger-side sliding door, he noticed that the van had been modified and the floor had been raised. Tartera then looked underneath the vehicle and saw welds that had not been made at the factory. In the rear of the van, Tartera noticed a "trap door." He opened it, discovering a compartment which contained what was later determined to be approximately eighty-two kilograms of cocaine. Guimond and Tsilias were arrested and taken to the sheriff's office. At the sheriff's office, Guimond was advised of his Miranda rights, and he gave a statement of admission. Both defendants were subsequently indicted for knowingly and intentionally possessing with the intent to distribute approximately eighty-two kilograms of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and for aiding and abetting each other in doing so, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2.

Defendants moved to suppress the evidence obtained in the search of Guimond's mini-van. Guimond also moved to suppress the admission he made following the search. Defendants' motions were referred to a magistrate judge. The magistrate judge's report and recommendation concluded that Tartera had completed his investigation regarding Guimond's alleged speeding before he left the squad car to question Tsilias, because he had already checked Guimond's driver's license, verified that the vehicle was registered in Guimond's name, obtained negative results on a computer check for outstanding warrants, and decided to issue only a warning citation. The magistrate judge further concluded that no reasonable suspicion of criminal activity based upon specific and articulable facts existed at that time, and that Tartera had no justification for leaving Guimond in the squad car while he went to question Tsilias. In the magistrate judge's view, since there was no reason to hold Guimond while Tartera went to question Tsilias, Guimond was being illegally detained in the squad car, and since Guimond's consent to search the mini-van was given while he was being illegally detained, it was not voluntary. The magistrate judge then concluded that Guimond's subsequent confession was given without any intervening circumstances breaking the causal connection between the illegal detention and the confession, and that the confession was therefore inadmissible as the "fruit" of an illegal arrest.

For these reasons, the magistrate judge recommended that Guimond's motion to suppress be granted. He recommended that Tsilias' motion to suppress be denied, however, because Tsilias had only a limited interest in the mini-van, lacked a legitimate expectation of privacy therein, and consequently had no standing to object to the search. The district court issued an order adopting the magistrate's report and recommendation in its entirety with respect to defendant Guimond's motion. On the issue of Tsilias' standing to object to the search, the district court rejected the magistrate judge's recommendation, finding that Tsilias did have such standing. The government has not appealed that ruling.

II.

In reviewing a district court's ruling on a motion to suppress, we must accept the court's findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous, and we review its legal conclusions de novo. United States v. Dotson, 49 F.3d 227, 229 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 848, 116 S.Ct. 141, 133 L.Ed.2d 87 (1995). In reviewing the court's factual findings, we will consider "the evidence in the light most likely to support the district court's decision." United States v. Roark, 36 F.3d 14, 16 (6th Cir.1994) (quoting United States v. Williams, 962 F.2d 1218, 1221 (6th Cir.1992)).

Ordinarily, whether "a consent to a search was in fact 'voluntary' or was the product of duress or coercion, express or implied, is a question of fact to be determined from the totality of all the circumstances." United States v. Rose, 889 F.2d 1490, 1494 (6th Cir.1989) (quoting Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 227, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 2047-48, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973)). However, when, as here, the district court determines the validity of a consent to search based upon the application of an overriding legal principle, we review the lawfulness of the search de novo.

A.

We first conclude that the district court erred in making at least one factual determination which appears to have been crucial to its conclusion that Guimond was in a state of illegal detention at the time he consented to a search of his mini-van. Among the findings of the magistrate judge (which were adopted by the district court) were the following:

Deputy Tartera has pointed to no reason (other than curiosity) for going to the mini-van to talk to Tsilias. However, at that point, he placed Guimond in the back of his squad car, and locked him in. This, it is submitted, constituted an arrest.

(emphasis added). The district court went on to find that because probable cause was lacking for the "arrest," Guimond's subsequent detention was illegal.

The above-quoted passage suggests that Guimond was placed in the squad car after Tartera had filled out the warning citation and decided to walk over to the mini-van and talk to Tsilias. The videotape clearly demonstrates, however, that Guimond was already in the squad car, and that there was no escalation in confinement when Tartera left Guimond where he was and went to talk to Tsilias. Thus, the district court's factual finding that Guimond's confinement to the squad car did not occur until the investigation of the traffic violation had been completed, or was nearly completed--a finding critical to the court's conclusion that Guimond was...

To continue reading

Request your trial
30 cases
  • U.S. v. Elkins
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Tennessee
    • March 6, 2000
    ...the totality of the circumstances. Ohio v. Robinette, 519 U.S. 33, 39-40, 117 S.Ct. 417, 136 L.Ed.2d 347 (1996); United States v. Guimond, 116 F.3d 166, 170 (6th Cir.1997). Thus, determination of voluntariness depends upon the facts in each situation. See United States v. Scott, 578 F.2d 11......
  • USA. v. Boone
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit
    • September 25, 2000
    ...(holding that even if Terry stop is illegal, consent can be an act of free will that purges initial illegality); United States v. Guimond, 116 F.3d 166, 170-71 (6th Cir. 1997) (stating that inquiry into whether consent was in fact voluntary must be undertaken and that merely because consent......
  • U.S.A. v. Smith
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit
    • May 3, 2001
    ...of law de novo." United States v. Waldon, 206 F.3d 597, 602 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 121 S.Ct. 193 (2000); United States v. Guimond, 116 F.3d 166, 169 (6th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 530 U.S. 1268 (2000); United States v. Bradshaw, 102 F.3d 204, 209 (6th Cir. 1996); United States v. Dotson,......
  • U.S. v. Yang
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit
    • February 20, 2002
    ...factual determinations with regard to the motion to suppress; we review de novo the court's legal determinations. United States v. Guimond, 116 F.3d 166, 169 (6th Cir.1997). The FBI was not required to obtain a warrant because it had Lee's consent to videotape the meeting. United States v. ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

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