U.S. v. Buckmaster

• Decision Date: 07 May 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-3954.,06-3954.
• Citation: 485 F.3d 873
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James BUCKMASTER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

485 F.3d 873

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James BUCKMASTER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 06-3954.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: April 20, 2007.

Decided and Filed: May 7, 2007.

ARGUED:

Albert L. Purola, Willoughby, Ohio, for Appellant. Robert F. Corts,

Assistant United States Attorney, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellee.

ON BRIEF:

Albert L. Purola, Willoughby, Ohio, for Appellant. Robert F. Corts, Assistant United States Attorney, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellee.

Before MERRITT and MARTIN, Circuit Judges; FORESTER, District Judge.^*

OPINION

BOYCE F. MARTIN, JR., Circuit Judge.

James Buckmaster pled guilty to unlawful possession of explosives — here, commercial fireworks — in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 842(a)(3)(A), after unsuccessfully moving to suppress the explosives on grounds that they were found in his basement pursuant to an illegal search. He now appeals a single issue: the district court's denial of his motion to suppress. For the reasons outlined below, we AFFIRM.

I

On May 14, 2005, the Madison Township (Ohio) Fire Department responded to a fire at Buckmaster's home. Heavy black smoke was observed billowing from the second floor window. Firefighters safely evacuated all the residents, including Buckmaster, his wife, and the tenants who lived in an attached rental apartment. The firefighters then entered the home and extinguished the fire, which appeared to be confined to the headboard of Buckmaster's waterbed in an upstairs bedroom. The fire was extinguished with water from a pressured firehose. Added to this amount of water, however, was discharge from the waterbed itself, which had been punctured at some point during the course of events. Apparently, a "piece of glass or mirror" from the burning headboard had fallen down and ruptured the waterbed. (It is unclear from the record whether the waterbed was punctured during the course of the fire, or whether it was punctured during the course of the firefighters' efforts to contain it.) The water quickly seeped from the second floor to the first and then to the basement, requiring the firefighters to install tarpaulins throughout the house to minimize drywall and other structural damage to the house, as well as to minimize the possibility of the water seeping into the walls and creating an electrical short.

Also present on the scene was Sergeant Matthew Byers, a member of the Madison Township Police Department and a certified firefighter and investigator. Byers recalled that his department had recently received several complaints regarding Buckmaster setting off fireworks on his property. He relayed this information to the fire chief. Concerned that there might be live fireworks in the still-burning home, the fire chief questioned Buckmaster, who was at this point outside. Buckmaster freely admitted that there were fireworks inside, but also indicated that they were not in close proximity to the fire.

Byers then entered the house and went upstairs to the bedroom, hoping to begin his investigation into the cause and origin of the fire. He was accompanied by another fire investigator, Officer Tom Perko. Perko was a member of the fire department, not the police department, and was a more experienced fire investigator than Byers. The two could not start their investigation, however, until the water was cleared from the bed and bedroom, and thus they decided instead to check the residence for high carbon monoxide levels and for "other possible dangers to the structure from the fire." Tr. at 23 (Byers Test.); see also id. ("[I]t's kind of standard practice to check the rest of the residence for pockets of carbon monoxide or for carbon monoxides [sic] that's been moved through the residence by the heating and cooling [systems]. . . ."). Byers and Perko used a hand-held meter to check and clear the second floor for carbon monoxide, did the same on the first floor, and then began checking the basement. They noticed substantial amounts of water draining through to the basement, and told firefighters to bring more tarps down. They also decided to check the furnace room in the basement, both for carbon monoxide levels and for electrical and structural dangers owing to the leaking water.

Upon entering the furnace room, Byers and Perko noticed in plain view, approximately ten feet from the furnace, several boxes marked as containing 1.4G and 1.3G explosives. Some of the boxes had already been opened, and Byers and Perko could plainly see the fireworks inside. The total amount of explosives was approximately 1,250 pounds. The fireworks were seized, and Buckmaster was ultimately charged under 18 U.S.C. § 842(a)(3)(A).¹

Buckmaster filed a motion to suppress the fireworks. The motion was denied by the district court in an order dated April 3, 2006. Buckmaster subsequently entered a conditional guilty plea, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress. On June 27, the district court sentenced Buckmaster to 12 months in custody. The execution of his sentence has been stayed pending the outcome of his appeal.

II

When reviewing a denial of a motion to suppress, this Court reviews the district court's factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo. United States v. Jones, 159 F.3d 969, 973 (6th Cir.1998). This Court must review the evidence "in a light most likely to support the district court's decision." Id.

Buckmaster claims that Sergeant Byers and Officer Perko violated his Fourth Amendment rights when they opened the door to, and subsequently entered, his basement furnace room.² Buckmaster relies almost exclusively on two Supreme Court cases, Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U.S. 499, 98 S.Ct. 1942, 56 L.Ed.2d 486 (1978), and Michigan v. Clifford, 464 U.S. 287, 104 S.Ct. 641, 78 L.Ed.2d 477 (1984). In Tyler, a case involving the suspected arson of a furniture store, the Court laid out an important principle involving searches by firefighters or police during and immediately after a fire:

an entry to fight a fire requires no warrant, and . . . once in the building, officials may remain there for a reasonable time to investigate the cause of the blaze. Thereafter, additional entries to investigate the cause of the fire must be made pursuant to the warrant procedures governing administrative searches.

436 U.S. at 511, 98 S.Ct. 1942. In other words, "[t]he firetruck need not stop at the courthouse in rushing to the flames. But once the fire has been extinguished and the firemen have left the premises, the emergency is over." Id. at 516, 98 S.Ct. 1942 (White, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). In Clifford, another case in which arson was suspected, the Court attempted to clarify its Tyler holding for situations where a private residence, and not a commercial building, was the subject of the fire and subsequent search. Justice Stevens, writing in concurrence, explained as follows:

There is unanimity within the Court on three general propositions regarding the scope of Fourth Amendment protection afforded to the owner of a fire-damaged building. No one questions the right of the firefighters to make a forceful, unannounced, nonconsensual, warrantless entry into a burning building. The reasonableness of such an entry is too plain to require explanation. Nor is there any disagreement concerning the firemen's right to remain on the premises, not only until the fire has been extinguished and they are satisfied that there is no danger of rekindling, but also while they continue to investigate the cause of the fire. We are also unanimous in our opinion that after investigators have determined the cause of the fire and located the place it originated, a search of other portions of the premises may be conducted only pursuant to a warrant, issued upon probable cause that a crime has been committed, and specifically describing the places to be searched and the items to be seized.

464 U.S. at 299-300, 104 S.Ct. 641.

Buckmaster argues that because Madison police and fire officials were not "searching for the cause and origin of the fire when they began to check for carbon monoxide," and because they had not obtained a search warrant, therefore "the search of the remaining portions of the house, not for fire causation evidence, but for carbon monoxide levels, was per se unreasonable." Appellant's Br. at 12-13. This argument not only improperly narrows the government's justifications for its search, it also fails because it restricts Tyler and Clifford to the notion that fire officials may remain in a building for a reasonable time after the blaze has been put out, but only to investigate the cause of the blaze.

Tyler and Clifford focused on the reasonable period firefighters may remain in a burned-out residence to investigate the cause and origin of the fire for a very simple reason: they were both cases in which fire investigators had a strong suspicion of arson. The two cases say little, however, about the often more common, and more obvious, reason that fire officials may remain in a fire-damaged residence: namely, to make sure that the residence is safe for its inhabitants to return to. This may require that the fire officials inspect portions of the house for the possibility that the fire might rekindle; it may require that they inspect portions of the house for electrical or structural damage; or it may require that they make sure the house is free of high carbon monoxide levels. Indeed, Justice Powell endorsed searches in these types of exigent circumstances when he noted that

[t]he aftermath of a fire often presents exigencies that will not tolerate the delay necessary to obtain a warrant or to secure the owner's consent to inspect fire-damaged premises. . . . [T]he warrant requirement does not apply in such cases. For example, an immediate threat that the blaze might rekindle presents an exigency that would justify a warrantless and nonconsensual post-fire investigation.

Clifford, ...