U.S. v. Diallo

• Decision Date: 09 June 1994
• Docket Number: 93-1951 and 93-2147,Nos. 93-1950,s. 93-1950
• Citation: 29 F.3d 23
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. Aboubacar DIALLO, Defendant, Appellant. UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. Amadou DIARRA, Defendant, Appellant. UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. Mohamed SOUARE, Defendant, Appellant. . Heard
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 23

29 F.3d 23

UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. Aboubacar DIALLO, Defendant, Appellant.

UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. Amadou DIARRA, Defendant, Appellant.

UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. Mohamed SOUARE, Defendant, Appellant.

Nos. 93-1950, 93-1951 and 93-2147.

United States Court of Appeals,

First Circuit.

Heard June 9, 1994.

Decided July 14, 1994.

Francis R. Williams, by Appointment of the Court, for appellant Mohamed Souare.

William J. Murphy, by Appointment of the Court, for appellant Amadou Diarra.

Damon M. D'Ambrosio, by Appointment of the Court, for appellant Aboubacar Diallo.

Zechariah Chafee, Asst. U.S. Atty., with whom Edward J. Gale, U.S. Atty., was on brief for appellee.

Before SELYA and CYR, Circuit Judges, and PETTINE, ^* Senior District Judge.

PETTINE, Senior District Judge.

Defendants Mohamed Souare, Aboubacar Diallo and Amadou Diarra were convicted under a two-count indictment for possession of heroin with intent to distribute and conspiracy to possess heroin with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 841(a)(1) and 846 (1988). Defendants Diarra and Diallo appeal the district court's denial of their motion to suppress evidence recovered after their arrests. Defendant Souare also appeals, arguing that the district court erred in denying his motion for a separate trial. For the reasons stated below, we affirm the district court.

I. Background

In early October 1992, Detective Thomas Verdi of the Providence Police Department received information from a confidential informant. The informant told Detective Verdi that three African men had recently set up a heroin sales operation at 136 Harrison Street in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The informant told police that the men were part of an African heroin ring based in New York City. The informant pointed out the three men involved in the heroin operation and said he knew them as "Mohamed," "Lye," and "Sekou" (later determined to be Souare, Diarra and Diallo). Over the next month, Detective Verdi followed the defendants from 136 Harrison Street as they travelled together to various locations in Providence. Detective Verdi arranged for a reliable third party, who was cooperating with the police, to buy heroin from defendant Souare. Defendants Diallo and Diarra were present during this buy.

On November 10, 1992, the informant told Detective Verdi that Mohamed had received a large shipment of pure heroin and that Mohamed, Lye and Sekou were to meet a customer for the heroin that night in Providence. At 6:30 p.m. that night, Detective Verdi and Sergeant Pedchenko set up surveillance at 136 Harrison Street. The three defendants, plus a fourth man identified later as Omar Bangoura, came out of the front door of 136 Harrison Street. Diarra, Diallo and Bangoura got into a red Toyota parked next to the building. Souare walked up and down the street, looking around. He apparently did not notice the policemen, returned to the red Toyota, and drove off. Once on the street, Souare drove normally for awhile, then suddenly accelerated, ran two stop signs, and quickly turned right onto a busy street. He then turned left from the right hand lane which required crossing three lanes of traffic, and sped down an entrance ramp to I-95. Detective Verdi, from his previous surveillance of Souare, knew that Souare was familiar with the streets in that area and viewed the unusual driving as an attempt to evade anyone who might be following. Souare turned off at the next exit and turned into the driveway of a house one or two blocks from the exit.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, during which time the four men may or may not have entered the house, the men left. This time, Souare was alone in the red Toyota, followed by a blue Ford driven by Diallo with Bangoura in the front passenger seat and Diarra in the rear seat. Souare drove the wrong way up a one-way street, down a deserted street and stopped under a bridge. The blue Ford followed each of these moves and waited under the bridge with the red Toyota. After waiting, the cars returned to I-95 and drove in the slow lane at 45 miles per hour for several exits. At each exit they passed, they would turn on the turning signals as if they were exiting but then would resume their slow driving. When the two cars finally exited the highway, Sergeant Pedchenko called for uniformed backup to make the arrests.

Patrolman Sion answered the call and pulled over the blue Ford at the direction of Sergeant Pedchenko. After Pedchenko and Verdi arrived, the three police officers went to the car and ordered the occupants out. As Diarra got out of the rear seat, he threw a hand-held calculator to the floor. When Sergeant Pedchenko attempted to pat down Diarra, Diarra resisted and pushed away the sergeant. The three men were handcuffed, placed in Patrolmen Sion's car, and driven up the street to a parking lot. Pedchenko and Verdi followed.

While in Sion's patrol car, the three men were handcuffed with their hands behind their backs. Sion looked in the mirror and saw that Diarra, in the middle, had turned his back and cuffed hands toward Diallo. Diallo had turned to face Diarra's back and hands. Sion heard the sound of a plastic bag crunching and looked over his shoulder at the men. Diarra was using his hands, behind his back to pull a white plastic bag up out of the front of Diallo's pants. Sion ordered the men to stop but they used their hands to stuff the bags between the seat back and the seat. Sion pulled into the parking lot and the prisoners were taken from the rear seat. The rear seat was pulled up and the police found eleven bags of heroin. At the same time, Souare was pulled over by another surveillance car and arrested. Souare had no heroin in his car or on his person.

Prior to trial, defendants Diarra and Diallo filed a motion to suppress the heroin discovered in the car. They argue that they were under arrest when the police handcuffed them at the scene of the car-stop and that the arresting officers did not have probable cause to arrest them. Defendants Souare and Diallo filed motions to sever their trials from the trials of their co-defendants, alleging prejudicial joinder. ¹ District Judge Ernest Torres denied both motions in oral decisions from the bench.

II. Motion to Suppress

Diarra and Diallo contend there was no probable cause to arrest them and that the heroin discovered as a result of the arrests should be suppressed. ² The definition of probable cause is well established and not in dispute in this case.

"[E]very arrest, and every seizure having the essential attributes of a formal arrest, is unreasonable unless it is supported by probable cause." Michigan v. Summers, 452 U.S. 692, 700, 101 S.Ct. 2587, 2593, 69 L.Ed.2d 340 (1981). In Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983), the Supreme Court held that probable cause should be determined under a "totality-of-the-circumstances" test. In doing so, the Court stated that "probable cause is a fluid concept--turning on the assessment of probabilities in particular factual contexts." Id. at 232, 103 S.Ct. at 2329. The Court rejected the prior test for probable cause which focused "analysis into two largely independent channels--the informant's 'veracity' or 'reliability' and his 'basis of knowledge.' " Id. at 233, 103 S.Ct. at 2329. Under the totality-of-the-circumstances test, "a deficiency in one may be compensated for, in determining the overall reliability of a tip, by a strong showing as to the other, or by some other indicia of reliability." Id. Further, "[w]here the standard is probable cause, a search or seizure of a person must be supported by probable cause particularized with respect to that person." Ybarra v. Illinois, 444 U.S. 85, 91, 100 S.Ct. 338, 342, 62 L.Ed.2d 238 (1979). "The quantum of information which constitutes probable cause [is] evidence which would 'warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief' that a felony has been committed." Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 479, 83 S.Ct. 407, 413, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963) (citations omitted). "The substance of all the definitions of probable cause is a reasonable ground for belief of guilt. And this means less than evidence which would justify condemnation or conviction." Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 175, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 1310, 93 L.Ed. 1879 (1949) (citations omitted). See also United States v. Drake, 673 F.2d 15, 17 (1st Cir.1982).

The existence of probable cause must be determined in light of the information known to the police at the time of the arrest. Maryland v. Garrison, 480 U.S. 79, 85, 107 S.Ct. 1013, 1017, 94 L.Ed.2d 72 (1987). " '[T]he existence of probable cause is to be evaluated on the basis of the collective information of the law enforcement officers engaged in a particular investigation.' " United States v. Curry, 751 F.2d 442, 446 (1st Cir.1984), cert. denied sub nom., Silvestri v. United States, 487 U.S. 1233, 108 S.Ct. 2897, 101 L.Ed.2d 931 (1988). See also United States v. Paradis, 802 F.2d 553, 557 (1st Cir.1986). It is obvious, therefore, that evidence recovered subsequent to an arrest cannot form the basis of probable cause for that arrest. Maryland v. Garrison, supra, at 85, 107 S.Ct. at 1017. Thus, we must determine whether the information available to the police prior to the stop of the car supports the district court's finding of probable cause.

In making this determination, we do not "conduct a de novo determination of probable cause, but [rather] determine whether there is substantial evidence in the record" to support the district court's finding. United States v. Badessa, 752 F.2d 771, 773 (1st Cir.1985). "The findings of the district court after a hearing on a pretrial motion to suppress are binding on appeal unless they are clearly erroneous." United States v. Morris, 977 F.2d 677, 680 (1st Cir.1992), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 1588, 123 L.Ed.2d 155 (1993). With these standards in mind, we turn to ...