131 F.3d 1105 (4th Cir. 1997), 97-4285, United States v. Jackson
| Citation | 131 F.3d 1105 |
| Party Name | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Derrick JACKSON, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Case Date | December 19, 1997 |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals, U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
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Argued Oct. 3, 1997.
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ARGUED: Clarke Francis Ahlers, Columbia, MD, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Lynne A. Battaglia, United States Attorney, Jamie M. Bennett, Assistant United States Attorney, Baltimore, MD, for Appellant.
Before NIEMEYER and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges, and BOYLE, Chief United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina, sitting by designation.
Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge NIEMEYER wrote the opinion, in which Judge HAMILTON and Chief Judge BOYLE joined.
OPINION
NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge:
Following Derrick Jackson's indictment for drug and gun violations, the district court granted Jackson's motion to suppress critical evidence seized from his residence and automobile. The evidence was seized pursuant to a search warrant obtained on the basis of drug paraphernalia observed in "plain view" in a basement area of the house where Jackson slept. The district court found that the observing officer had consent to be in the basement only to search for a fugitive and that during that search he observed the paraphernalia briefly but did not then recognize it as incriminating. When the officer left the area where he initially had observed the paraphernalia in order to complete his search for the fugitive, the court held that the officer was not authorized to return to the paraphernalia to inspect it more closely. The court concluded that when the officer returned to the area--no longer to search for the fugitive but to observe the paraphernalia--he was no longer "properly in the bedroom, and most certainly not properly in the corner near the cart area, when he made any further observations." Reasoning from that finding, the court suppressed the evidence. On appeal, the government contends that the officer's brief departure from the bedroom area to secure the remainder of the basement did not preclude him from returning to the area to make the observation that revealed the contraband.
Because we agree with the government's position, we reverse the district court's suppression order and remand this case for further proceedings.
I
In his effort to find federal fugitive Tyrone Barfield, Deputy United States Marshal Richard Henry traced telephone calls to 902 Marlau Street, Baltimore, Maryland. After conducting a brief surveillance of the location,
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Deputy Henry and another officer knocked on the front door, and Sandra Jackson opened it. After Deputy Henry showed Barfield's photograph to Ms. Jackson and explained that he had a warrant for Barfield's arrest, Ms. Jackson informed the officer that Barfield was a friend of her brother. She did not think, however, that Barfield was in the house. Deputy Henry then asked Ms. Jackson, "Can we look around to see because we received a phone call from this house?" Ms. Jackson replied, "Yes." The officers then entered the house. Deputy Henry went downstairs to search the basement, while the other officer went upstairs.
The basement of 902 Marlau was divided into two areas, a front area and a back area. The stairs from the first floor went down into the front area of the basement, and a laundry area was in the back. As Deputy Henry went down the stairs, he observed a bed and some furniture at the foot of the stairs to his left. In the corner, a sheet loosely covered an object. Because Barfield was known to be only "four foot nine," Deputy Henry said that he "challenged that sheet" and, when he got no response, pulled it off the object. As he did so, a bag fell from a wheeled cart onto the floor, spilling some of its contents which included suspicious metal items. Deputy Henry recognized one of them as a strainer but looked no further at the items at that time. Instead, he continued to secure the basement, proceeding to the back area where he encountered a handyman named Rick who was working on the back door. Deputy Henry ordered Rick to gather his tools and go upstairs. After securing the basement, Deputy Henry "came back and looked at the objects [that had fallen from the bag] and it was a number of objects, a scale, sifter and things of that nature." The other things of "that nature" included ziplock bags, numerous gelatin capsules, some white powder, and Isotol, an agent used to cut drugs. Although Henry was not in drug enforcement, he immediately recognized the objects as drug paraphernalia. In making his observations, Deputy Henry testified that he did not touch or move the fallen bag or its contents.
Even though the fallen bag, its spilled contents, and the wheeled cart were in the corner of the front area of the basement, Deputy Henry stated that if he had not returned to them, he nevertheless would have had to "walk by them" to return to the stairs, and that even from the stairs he would have been able to see the spilled objects "in plain view." He acknowledged, however, that after securing the basement he decided to take a second, closer look at the suspicious objects. After observing the drug paraphernalia, Deputy Henry returned upstairs to advise Ms. Jackson of what he had found. Ms. Jackson then identified her brother, Derrick Jackson, as the person who slept in the basement. Because Deputy Henry was not in drug enforcement, he called the Baltimore City Police to report his findings.
Less than thirty minutes later, Baltimore City Police Officer John Cromwell and additional members of the Baltimore City Police Northern District Drug Enforcement Unit arrived. Officer Cromwell searched the contents of the fallen paper bag, finding scales, substantial quantities of packaging material, "thousands" of gel caps, sifters and spoons with white powder residue, packages of cutting agent, and a check-cashing card in Derrick Jackson's name. He summoned a drug-sniffing dog which "alerted" positive for drugs in a locked compartment on the cart from which the bag had fallen. He also ran a background check on Derrick Jackson, which indicated that Jackson had been arrested numerous times on drugs and weapons charges.
While the officers were still at the Marlau Street address, Derrick Jackson drove up in a Chevrolet Blazer truck and began to walk into the house. After Jackson confirmed his identity, the officers handcuffed him and read him his Miranda rights. Upon being confronted with the evidence discovered in the basement, Jackson stated, "I don't want to do this in front of my family," at which time he took a few steps to the kitchen and told the officers, "my family got nothing to do with myself and the basement" and "my family got nothing to do with my stuff in the basement."
Based on these facts, Officer Cromwell secured a search warrant to search both the house at 902 Marlau Street and the Chevrolet
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Blazer truck. From their execution of the search warrant, the officers recovered a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, ammunition, and substantial quantities of marijuana, heroin, and cocaine. From the truck, they recovered a pager and some gel caps containing what was suspected to be heroin.
After the grand jury indicted Derrick Jackson, he filed a motion to suppress the evidence, and the district court granted the motion, entering an order suppressing all evidence seized on March 3, 1997 from 902 Marlau Street and the Chevrolet Blazer and all statements that Derrick Jackson made. The district court found that Deputy Henry had exceeded his consent when he returned to the sleeping area in the front area of the basement and re-observed the contents of the fallen bag. The court explained that "[a]fter finishing the consensual search of the bedroom, Henry returned to the...
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