U.S. v. Brookins

• Citation: 345 F.3d 231
• Decision Date: 25 September 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-4935.,02-4935.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Ronald Lee Brookins, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

345 F.3d 231

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Ronald Lee Brookins, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 02-4935.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: June 3, 2003.

Decided: September 25, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

ARGUED: Brian Lee Whisler, Assistant United States Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellant.

Larry Mark Dash, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee.

ON BRIEF: Paul J. McNulty, United States Attorney, Sherrie S. Capotosto, Assistant United States Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellant.

Frances H. Pratt, Research and Writing Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee.

Before WILKINS, Chief Judge, and WILLIAMS and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.

Reversed by published opinion. Judge Gregory wrote the opinion, in which Chief Judge Wilkins and Judge Williams joined.

OPINION

GREGORY, Circuit Judge:

Ronald Lee Brookins ("Brookins") was indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of distribution of cocaine base. Brookins moved before trial to suppress certain evidence that was seized from his automobile shortly after the time of his arrest. The district court granted his motion and later denied the government's motion for reconsideration. Resolution of this appeal turns upon our construction of the "automobile exception" to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. Because we find that the police had probable cause to search Brookins' vehicle and that the exception applies, we conclude that a warrant was not required to satisfy the Fourth Amendment's reasonableness requirement. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's suppression of the contraband discovered in Brookins' automobile.

I.

On February 20, 2001, at approximately 3:00 p.m., five officers of the Suffolk, Virginia Police Department's Special Investigation Unit were patrolling, in an unmarked car, open-air drug markets in downtown Suffolk, Virginia.¹ As they approached an intersection, the officers observed a gold Ford Expedition, backed into a driveway, which they recognized as belonging to Brookins, who had been convicted of prior drug offenses and was the subject of an ongoing narcotics investigation. One of the officers had recently received reliable confidential information that Brookins frequently made trips to this intersection to distribute narcotics. As the officers passed Brookins' vehicle, they observed Brookins and one other individual, who was later identified as Benny Harvey ("Harvey"), standing in the open doorway of the Ford Expedition. Brookins' wife, Crystal, was seated in the backseat of the vehicle. The patrolling officers continued down the street and pulled into a driveway. At this time, at least two officers observed Brookins reach into the vehicle and hand Harvey a clear plastic sandwich bag. The officers next observed Brookins and Harvey walk away from the vehicle "at a fast pace." Two of the officers pursued Harvey, whom they observed discard the plastic bag, which was later found to contain 26 small, packaged rocks of suspected crack cocaine. Harvey was apprehended and searched. Upon his person, the officers discovered a two-way Radio Shack radio. Officer Coleman then received verification regarding the suspected contraband and commenced pursuit of Brookins. Soon thereafter, Officer Coleman found Brookins inside a nearby market and arrested him. During the officers' pursuit of the two suspects, Crystal Brookins fled the scene in the Ford Expedition at a high rate of speed. The officers next radio broadcasted an all points bulletin to locate the vehicle.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, a patrolman observed the gold Ford Expedition parked in the driveway of a residence belonging to Brookins' mother-in-law. As Officers Coleman and Buie approached the home, a man exited the residence and opened the door of the Ford Expedition, "like he was going to get into the vehicle." Officer Coleman prevented this individual from entering the truck. The officers found Crystal Brookins in her mother's house, and she agreed to accompany them to the police station. After obtaining the keys to the Ford Expedition, the officers conducted a cursory search of the vehicle in the driveway.

Later, while Crystal Brookins underwent questioning at the police station, officers performed a more thorough search of Brookins' vehicle. As a result of the search, the officers recovered electronic scales, a Radio Shack two-way radio, aluminum foil, and a box of razor blades. Brookins' driver's license, social security card, and vehicle registration were also recovered.

Brookins was indicted for unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally distributing in excess of five grams of a mixture of substances containing crack cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(B)(iii) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. Before trial, Brookins filed a motion to suppress the contraband discovered in his car, which the district court granted. The government then filed a motion for reconsideration, offering forfeiture as an additional basis to justify the warrantless search of the Ford Expedition. This motion was denied by the district court's superceding Memorandum and Order, which affirmed its earlier suppression order.² The Government's timely appeal followed.

II.

We review de novo the legal determinations, including the existence of probable cause, underlying the district court's suppression order. Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996); Park v. Shiflett, 250 F.3d 843, 849-50 (4th Cir.2001) (probable cause review); United States v. Rusher, 966 F.2d 868, 873 (4th Cir.1992) (general suppression review standard). However, we "take care both to review findings of historical fact only for clear error and to give due weight to inferences drawn from those facts by resident judges." Ornelas, 517 U.S. at 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657.

Before the district court, the government maintained that the warrantless search and seizure of Brookins' automobile was valid on several alternative grounds.³ On appeal, the government raises three principal arguments in support of its warrantless search and seizure.⁴ First, the government argues that the search was justified under the "automobile exception." Second, the government maintains that the warrantless seizure of Brookins' automobile from his mother-in-law's driveway was appropriate under Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970). Finally, the government invokes state and federal forfeiture statutes authorizing the warrantless seizure of vehicles used to commit a crime.

Under the "automobile exception," "[i]f a car is readily mobile and probable cause exists to believe it contains contraband, the Fourth Amendment ... permits police to search the vehicle without more." Maryland v. Dyson, 527 U.S. 465, 466, 119 S.Ct. 2013, 144 L.Ed.2d 442 (1999) (per curiam) (quoting Pennsylvania v. Labron, 518 U.S. 938, 940, 116 S.Ct. 2485, 135 L.Ed.2d 1031 (1996) (per curiam)). Under the rule set forth in Chambers, officers with probable cause to search an automobile at the scene of an arrest or stop may constitutionally seize the automobile and subsequently search it at the station house without obtaining a warrant. See 399 U.S. at 52, 90 S.Ct. 1975. Finally, under the relevant forfeiture statutes, the police may seize an automobile without first obtaining a warrant when they have probable cause to believe that it is forfeitable contraband. See Florida v. White, 526 U.S. 559, 565, 119 S.Ct. 1555, 143 L.Ed.2d 748 (1999).

At issue in this appeal is the availability of these exceptions to the warrant requirement under the circumstances surrounding the search and seizure of Brookins' vehicle. Prior to addressing the applicability of these exceptions, however, we must first determine whether the district court erred in concluding that the officers lacked probable cause to support the search and seizure of Brookins' automobile. Without probable cause, neither the "automobile exception" nor a forfeiture provision is available to support a warrantless search or seizure.⁵

A.

In Ornelas, the Supreme Court, after noting that probable cause is not susceptible to precise definition, nonetheless described it as "existing where the known facts and circumstances are sufficient to warrant a man of reasonable prudence in the belief that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found." 517 U.S. at 696, 116 S.Ct. 1657; see also Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983) ("[W]hether ... given all the circumstances... there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place." (emphasis added)). Supplementing this definition, the Court noted:

The principal components of a determination of ... probable cause will be the events which occurred leading up to the stop or search, and then the decision whether these historical facts, viewed from the standpoint of an objectively reasonable police officer, amount to ... probable cause.

Ornelas, 517 U.S. at 696, 116 S.Ct. 1657.

Accordingly, the district court noted the following with respect to the facts surrounding Brookins' arrest and concluded that the officers possessed probable cause to search for contraband in his vehicle at the time of arrest:

Defendant has previously been convicted of drug offences, and a reliable confidential informant told officers that the Defendant made narcotics deliveries in the vicinity of E. Washington Street.... [O]fficers stated that they saw Defendant retrieve a package from the front seat of the car and pass it to Harvey, who later discarded it. When the package was recovered by officers, it was determined it contained crack cocaine. These facts are sufficient to support a reasonable belief by the officers that contraband may have been present in the vehicle.

However, the district court concluded that probable cause became stale during the fifteen-minute interval between the...