U.S.A. v. Pedroza

• Decision Date: 18 October 2001
• Docket Number: Nos. 00-3762,00-3763,s. 00-3762
• Citation: 269 F.3d 821
• Parties: (7th Cir. 2001) United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Juan Pedroza and Hilario Pedroza, Defendants-Appellants
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 821

269 F.3d 821 (7th Cir. 2001)

United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Juan Pedroza and Hilario Pedroza, Defendants-Appellants.

Nos. 00-3762, 00-3763

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit

Argued March 29, 2001

Decided October 18, 2001

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 99 CR 192--George W. Lindberg, Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before Easterbrook, Rovner, and Diane P. Wood, Circuit Judges.

Diane P. Wood, Circuit Judge.

In March 1999, federal agents found two kilograms of cocaine in Juan Pedroza's car, $61,000 in cash and various drug paraphernalia in his house, and $10,000 in cash and ledgers recording drug transactions in the home of his brother Hilario Pedroza. After the district court denied the brothers' motions to suppress this evidence, they entered conditional guilty pleas to conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. In this appeal, the Pedrozas challenge the district court's denial of their suppression motions as well as the district court's refusal to dismiss their indictment for violation of the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3161. We affirm both convictions.

I

On March 18, 1999, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents were conducting surveillance of Juan Pedroza, whom they suspected of being involved in drug activity. In the early afternoon, Juan drove to Hilario's house in a 1991 Ford Thunderbird, parked in front of the house, and went inside. About twenty minutes later, he returned to the Thunderbird and drove around to an alley behind the house, where Hilario passed a brown cardboard box to Juan through the car window. Juan then drove back to his own residence. After he stopped the car, he sat in it for a few minutes and then went into the house empty-handed. About thirty minutes later, Juan left again, this time driving a Jeep Cherokee. Agents looked through the windows of the Thunderbird but were unable to see the cardboard box. This roused their suspicions that the Thunderbird had a secret compartment, and that Juan had hidden the box in it.

Other agents followed Juan when he left in the Cherokee. After awhile, it became evident from the way Juan was driving that he knew he was being followed, and so the agent in charge instructed the pursuing agents to contact Juan and question him if possible. A few minutes later, Agent Dan Foley pulled up next to Juan at a stop light, showed Juan his police badge, and said, "Police, would you mind talking to us?" According to Foley, Juan said, "Yes, he would," and then drove through the intersection and promptly pulled over to the curb. Foley turned right and pulled over just around the corner from Juan. At that point, a traffic officer at the corner directed Juan and the agents to move from the intersection to a laundromat parking lot a short distance away, which they did.

After Juan stopped his car in the parking lot, a total of four DEA agents, each in his own car, also pulled into the lot. Although Juan testified that his car was blocked by the agents' cars, the agents testified, and the district court specifically found, that Juan's car was not blocked. Initially, two English- speaking agents spoke briefly with Juan. A bilingual agent, Agent Lou Dominguez, then approached Juan, identified himself as a police officer, and asked Juan if he was more comfortable speaking English or Spanish. Juan preferred to speak Spanish, so Dominguez conducted the remainder of the encounter in Spanish. Dominguez told Juan that the agents were investigating drug trafficking and asked Juan if he was involved in any such activities. Juan said he was not. Dominguez next asked Juan if he had any contraband in the Jeep. Juan replied that he did not and volunteered permission for the agents to search the vehicle.

At that point, Dominguez told Juan he was going to pat him down for the agents' protection. Dominguez conducted a brief pat-down search which turned up cell phones and pagers, but no weapons or contraband. The cell phones and pagers were eventually confiscated, although Agent Dominguez could not recall whether they were taken at the time of the pat- down search or later. After the pat-down search, Dominguez continued to question Juan, and Juan continued to respond to the agent's questions. Three other agents searched the Jeep while Dominguez and Juan continued to talk. The agents found no contraband in the Jeep.

While the Jeep was being searched, Dominguez asked Juan where he lived and if he owned any other cars. Juan gave his address and said he owned a Ford Thunderbird. Dominguez asked if Juan had any contraband at home or in the Thunderbird, and Juan again said that he did not. Juan then volunteered permission for the agents to search his home and the Thunderbird and said that his wife was at home and could give the agents the keys to the Thunderbird. Dominguez radioed an agent who was conducting surveillance at Juan's house and notified him of the consent to search the house and the Thunderbird. Agents at the house knocked on the door and informed Mrs. Pedroza that Juan had given them consent to search the Thunderbird; she gave them the keys. The search of the Thunderbird revealed that the missing cardboard box was in fact hidden in a secret compartment, and the box turned out to hold two kilograms of cocaine.

The agents at the house then radioed back to Dominguez and had him arrest Juan. Dominguez read Juan his Miranda rights in Spanish, and Juan said that he understood them. The agents next transported Juan back to his house, unhandcuffed, where they conducted the search of the house to which Juan had previously consented. Agents found drug paraphernalia, a gun, and approximately $61,000 in cash in the house.

After Juan was arrested, he told the arresting agents that he had obtained the two kilograms of cocaine from Hilario. On the basis of this information, the agents decided to arrest Hilario also. About five agents met at a parking lot near Hilario's home to carry out the arrest. The agents wore gun belts and bullet- proof vests with the word POLICE emblazoned on them. Three of the agents approached Hilario's front door while the other two went around to the back. When the agents approached the door, it was ajar, although the storm door was closed. The agents could see Hilario walking toward the front of the house. Agent Dominguez, who was the first one on the porch, knocked and said, "Police, we'd like to talk to you," to which Hilario replied, "Come on in." The agents entered the house and immediately arrested Hilario. Agent Dominguez asked Hilario in Spanish if he would mind if the agents looked around for any other individuals, and Hilario said no. The agents then conducted a security sweep of the house while Dominguez explained to Hilario why he was being arrested and read Hilario his Miranda rights. Hilario waived his rights and agreed to speak to the agents. Dominguez asked Hilario if he had any drugs, guns or contraband in the house; Hilario said he did not. Dominguez asked Hilario if the agents could search the house, and Hilario gave his consent. Dominguez also asked Hilario if the garage attached to the house and the vehicles in it were his and if the agents could search them; Hilario indicated that they were his and gave his permission for the search. Ultimately, the search of Hilario's home and garage turned up $10,000, which Hilario admitted was drug money. The agents also found several ledgers detailing drug transactions.

II

In the district court, both Juan and Hilario moved to suppress the evidence seized from the Thunderbird and from their homes. Juan argued that the agents effectively arrested him without probable cause when they initially stopped him, and that his subsequent consent to the search of his home and the Thunderbird was the fruit of the illegal arrest. Hilario argued only that he did not voluntarily consent to the search of his home. The district court, relying on the recommendation of a magistrate judge, found that Juan's encounter with the agents was consensual and that Hilario voluntarily consented to the search of his home.

Many of the arguments that the Pedrozas make in this appeal are nothing more than challenges to the factual findings and credibility determinations of the magistrate judge. Such arguments are almost always fruitless on appeal. As there is nothing physically impossible or otherwise disqualifying about these findings and determinations, we reject those arguments here. The magistrate judge held two days of hearings at which he heard testimony from both brothers and from several of the agents who were involved in the searches. The story that the Pedrozas told about the events of March 18 differed markedly from the agents' description of the events. At the conclusion of the hearings, the magistrate judge expressly found that the agents all gave testimony that was non- evasive and internally consistent and that each agent's testimony was consistent with that of the other agents. In contrast, the magistrate found that both Juan and Hilario gave testimony that was inconsistent, evasive, and unreliable. Accordingly, the judge credited the agents' version of the events and refused to credit the Pedrozas' versions. We give special deference to such credibility determinations, which can virtually never be clear error. See, e.g., Clark v. Runyon, 116 F.3d 275, 278 (7th Cir. 1997). Accordingly, we will evaluate the legality of the stops on the basis of the facts as the magistrate judge found them.

With that much established, we cannot find that Juan's consent to the search of his house and the Thunderbird was the product of an illegal seizure. Whether an encounter with the police is consensual is a factual question dependent on all the circumstances surrounding the encounter. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 227 (1973). Ultimately, whether an...