U.S. v. Jackson

• Citation: 415 F.3d 88
• Decision Date: 22 July 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-3021.,04-3021.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee v. Tarry M. JACKSON, Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (District of Columbia)

415 F.3d 88

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee v. Tarry M. JACKSON, Appellant.

No. 04-3021.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued April 4, 2005.

Decided July 22, 2005.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 02cr00328-01).

Sandra G. Roland, Assistant Federal Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant. With her on the briefs was A.J. Kramer, Federal Public Defender. Neil H. Jaffee, Assistant Federal Public Defender, entered an appearance.

Thomas S. Rees, Assistant U.S. Attorney, argued the cause for appellee. With him on the brief were Kenneth L. Wainstein, U.S. Attorney, and John R. Fisher and Thomas J. Tourish, Jr., Assistant U.S. Attorneys.

Before: EDWARDS, ROGERS and ROBERTS, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge ROGERS.

Concurring opinion filed by Circuit Judge EDWARDS.

Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge ROBERTS.

ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

This appeal challenges the district court's denial of a motion to suppress evidence on the ground that the police lacked probable cause to search the trunk of a car stopped for a traffic violation. The question before the court is whether the evidence would have led a "`prudent, reasonable, cautious police officer' to believe that there was a reasonable likelihood the trunk contained contraband" or evidence of a crime. United States v. (Monte) Brown, 374 F.3d 1326, 1328 (D.C.Cir.2004) (quoting United States v. Davis, 458 F.2d 819, 821 (D.C.Cir.1972)); see also Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). Upon de novo review, see Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996), we hold that the police lacked probable cause to search the trunk, and accordingly, we reverse the judgment of conviction.

I.

At approximately 1:00 a.m. on May 4, 2002, United States Park Police Officers Jeffrey Garboe and Wayne Johnson observed a 1988 Mercury Marquis without a functioning tag light. The officers initiated a traffic stop based on the absence of the tag light. Prior to approaching the car, they conducted a records check that indicated the car's temporary license tags had been reported stolen from Fairfax County, Virginia. The officers arrested the driver for the stolen tag offense. When the driver was unable to produce a registration or a driver's license, the officers conducted a further records check that indicated that his driving privileges had been suspended in Virginia. The officers also checked the vehicle identification number in a computer database, and it yielded an "old listing" from Virginia, meaning that the car had once been registered there but that it was not currently registered. There was no report that the car had been stolen.

After handcuffing the driver and securing him inside their cruiser, the officers searched the passenger compartment of the car, including the glove compartment, for documentation of ownership. They did not find any documentation, contraband, or evidence of criminal activity. Nevertheless, the officers searched the trunk, based on their prior experience of finding "real tags" and "other identifying information about the vehicle" there. Although the officers again did not find the "real tags" or any identifying information, they did find a loaded .25 caliber pistol and ammunition inside a child-sized backpack within the trunk. The officers then transported the driver for booking, leaving the car parked on the public street. According to Officer Johnson, while being transported for booking the driver indicated that the car belonged to his girlfriend. Officer Garboe also remembered the driver making such a statement, including that his girlfriend had purchased the car at an auction a month before, but he somewhat inconsistently could not recall at what point the driver made the statement. The district court did not make a finding on when the officers received this information.

The driver of the car, Tarry M. Jackson, was indicted for one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) (2000). The district court denied his motion to suppress the evidence seized from the car trunk. While noting that this case was "a pretty close call" and that the officers' testimony about why they searched the trunk was "confused," the district court concluded that "there was a fair probability that a search of the trunk and the backpack would produce evidence related to Jackson's use of a stolen tag — perhaps the `real' tags — or information indicating that Jackson was not the owner or authorized user of the vehicle." The district court acknowledged that "[t]he vehicle had not been reported stolen," but observed that "the information available to the officers [did not] establish that it was not stolen." Jackson then conditionally pled guilty to the unlawful possession charge, preserving his right to appeal the denial of the suppression motion. He was sentenced to twenty-one months of incarceration three years of supervised release, and a special assessment, and he now appeals.

II.

The Fourth Amendment provides, "The right of the people to be secure in their... effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated." In most instances, searches must be supported by a warrant obtainable upon a showing of probable cause. See, e.g., California v. Carney, 471 U.S. 386, 390-91, 105 S.Ct. 2066, 85 L.Ed.2d 406 (1985); Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 390, 98 S.Ct. 2408, 57 L.Ed.2d 290 (1978). "It remains a cardinal principle that searches conducted outside the judicial process, without prior approval by judge or magistrate, are per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment — subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions." California v. Acevedo, 500 U.S. 565, 580, 111 S.Ct. 1982, 114 L.Ed.2d 619 (1991) (internal quotation marks omitted).

One exception allows the police to search a vehicle's passenger compartment, including the glove compartment, incident to the lawful arrest of the vehicle's occupant. New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 460, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981); see also Thornton v. United States, 541 U.S. 615, 124 S.Ct. 2127, 158 L.Ed.2d 905 (2004). The rationale behind the exception is that "articles inside the relatively narrow compass of the passenger compartment of an automobile are in fact generally, even if not inevitably, within `the area into which an arrestee might reach in order to grab a weapon or evidentiary ite[m].'" Belton, 453 U.S. at 460, 101 S.Ct. 2860 (quoting Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 763, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969)) (alteration in original). The officers conducted a search of the passenger compartment, and Jackson raises no objection to that search. Jackson's arrest for traffic violations and stolen tags, however, did not automatically permit the officers to search the car's trunk. See id. at 461 n. 4, 101 S.Ct. 2860; see also Pennsylvania v. Labron, 518 U.S. 938, 940, 116 S.Ct. 2485, 135 L.Ed.2d 1031 (1996). Rather, although a search warrant was not required, the officers could constitutionally search the trunk (and the containers therein) only if they had probable cause to believe that the trunk contained contraband or evidence of a crime. See Acevedo, 500 U.S. at 579-80, 111 S.Ct. 1982.

Probable cause is synonymous with "fair probability," Gates, 462 U.S. at 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, and it is an objective standard requiring an analysis of the totality of the circumstances and the facts known to the officers at the time of the search, Ornelas, 517 U.S. at 695-96, 116 S.Ct. 1657; Gates; 462 U.S. at 230-31, 103 S.Ct. 2317; cf. United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 274, 122 S.Ct. 744, 151 L.Ed.2d 740 (2002). "Subjective intentions play no role in ordinary, probable-cause Fourth Amendment analysis," Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 813, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996), and the officers' "actual motives for conducting the search [are] not relevant as long as [their] actions were objectively reasonable." United States v. (Rocky Lee) Brown, 334 F.3d 1161, 1172 n. 8 (D.C.Cir.2003) (quoting United States v. Christian, 187 F.3d 663, 670 (D.C.Cir.1999)) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Devenpeck v. Alford, ___ U.S. ___, ___-___, 125 S.Ct. 588, 593-94, 160 L.Ed.2d 537 (2004); United States v. Holmes, 385 F.3d 786, 790 (D.C.Cir.2004). The court has recognized that "the discovery of contraband in the passenger compartment of a car is a factor that strongly supports the lawfulness of a trunk search." (Rocky Lee) Brown, 334 F.3d at 1173. And so long as probable cause exists to search the trunk, police officers may also search any of the trunk's contents "that may conceal the object of the search." United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 825, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982); see also Wyoming v. Houghton, 526 U.S. 295, 300-02, 119 S.Ct. 1297, 143 L.Ed.2d 408 (1999).

Both in the district court and in this court upon de novo review, "the burden is on those seeking the exemption [from the warrant requirement] to show the need for it." United States v. Jeffers, 342 U.S. 48, 51, 72 S.Ct. 93, 96 L.Ed. 59 (1951); see also Chimel, 395 U.S. at 762, 89 S.Ct. 2034; In Re Sealed Case, 153 F.3d 759, 764 (D.C.Cir.1998). In this instance, it is the government's burden to demonstrate that there was a fair probability that the car trunk would contain contraband or evidence of a crime. Because the totality of the circumstances known to the officers at the time of the search of the car trunk, including that the driver likely had committed several traffic violations and had received stolen property, do not support a determination of probable cause, the government has not carried its burden.

According to the government, at the time of the search of the car trunk, the officers had probable cause to believe that the driver had committed...