U.S. v. Reeves

Decision Date07 May 2008
Docket NumberNo. 07-8028.,07-8028.
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Douglas Alan REEVES, Defendant-Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

John T. Carlson, Assistant Federal Public Defender, (Raymond P. Moore, Federal Public Defender, Denver, CO, and Robert R. Rogers, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Cheyenne, WY, with him on the briefs) for Defendant-Appellant.

Lisa E. Leschuck, Assistant United States Attorney, (John R. Green, Acting United States Attorney, Cheyenne, WY, with her on the brief) for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Before MURPHY, HOLLOWAY, and TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judges.

MURPHY, Circuit Judge.

Douglas Alan Reeves was arrested, without a warrant, when he answered his motel door at 3:30 am. Reeves answered the door only after officers made phone calls to his room, knocked on his door and window with flashlights, and loudly identified themselves as police officers over the course of at least twenty minutes. Subsequent to his arrest, weapons and ammunition were found in his room and on his person. Reeves entered a conditional guilty plea to one count of Felon in Possession of a Firearm and one count of Felon in Possession of Ammunition. 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(a)(2). The plea agreement preserved his right to appeal the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence of the weapons, premised on a violation of the Fourth Amendment. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Because we hold Reeves was seized inside his room without a warrant in violation of Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980), and, because the government has not demonstrated that Reeves' subsequent consents to search were not tainted by the unlawful seizure, we REVERSE the district court's denial of Reeves' motion to suppress.

I.

This court reviews a district court's ruling on a motion to suppress by considering the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party, here the government. United States v. Cheromiah, 455 F.3d 1216, 1220 (10th Cir.2006). The facts, therefore, taken in the light most favorable to the government are as follows.

On March 13, 2005, at 9:30 pm Carbon County Sheriff's Office deputies and Baggs, Wyoming police officers responded to an aggravated assault call. During the investigation, an EMT who treated the victim and who also worked as a clerk in a liquor store, informed officers she heard Reeves make a comment earlier the same day at the liquor store that "sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and God tells you to do it." This statement was substantially similar to a statement the assault victim heard her assailant make. As a result, Reeves became a suspect in the assault investigation. Reeves was also known to the officers to be a felon and they had received reports from citizens that he was in possession of a handgun.

At 2:43 am, Baggs Chief of Police Mark Lapinskas, Carbon County Sheriff's Sergeant Michael Morris, Deputy Edward Fourman, and Deputy Dave Fagnant arrived at the Country Inn Motel, where Reeves was known to have been living for three months. Deputy Fourman and Sergeant Morris requested the manager call Reeves and ask him to step outside. The manager made multiple calls to Reeves' room, but there was no response. During this time, Chief Lapinskas and Deputy Fagnant kept watch on Reeves' room. After receiving no response to the phone calls, Chief Lapinskas, Deputy Fourman, and Sergeant Morris approached the motel room and Deputy Fagnant went to the back of the motel to watch the rear exit.

Outside Reeves' motel room, the officers commenced knocking on the door and window, using their police-issued black metal flashlights. The officers knocked consistently for at least twenty minutes while yelling and identifying themselves as police officers.1 Deputy Fourman testified the officers "banged on the window very loudly with [their] flashlights." R. Vol. 3 at 10. During this time period, Reeves did not come to the door or otherwise acknowledge the officers' presence. After approximately twenty minutes of banging and yelling, Reeves came to the motel room door.

Chief Lapinskas testified that Reeves opened the door and stepped out of the room. As Reeves exited, the officers observed he wore a holster. The officers testified that they could not, however, determine whether the holster held a gun. Chief Lapinskas ordered Reeves to show his hands, withdrew his taser, and aimed its target light at Reeves. Reeves complied and was taken into custody. When patted down, five .44 caliber rounds were found in his pocket. Chief Lapinskas performed a protective sweep of the motel room, observing a revolver lying on the floor, two rifles in an open closet, and boxes of ammunition on a storage shelf. The revolver was in plain view to the officers located outside the room.

The officers read Reeves his Miranda rights and requested consent to search the room. Reeves initially consented, but quickly withdrew his consent and the officers ceased the search. Before the officers withdrew from the room, however, the revolver on the floor was seized. Reeves was taken to the Baggs Town Hall at approximately 3:50 am and interviewed about the assault. He denied involvement and volunteered to submit to testing. The interview lasted about one hour. Reeves was then transported seventy-five miles from Baggs to Rawlins where he was taken to the hospital to submit to a sexual assault kit. He remained at the hospital from 6:30 am to 8:00 am. Reeves was then transported to the Sheriff's Office in Rawlins and the officers resumed the interview that began at the Baggs Town Hall. The officers again requested permission to search Reeves' motel room. At 8:20 am, Reeves signed a form granting permission to search the room. The search of the motel room produced two long-barreled rifles and one .22 caliber handgun. Reeves was tried on the sexual assault charges and the trial ended in a hung jury. He was subsequently transferred from state to federal custody to face federal firearm charges.

II.

On appeal, Reeves argues he was arrested inside his home in violation of the Fourth Amendment and that the evidence subsequently obtained was tainted and should be suppressed.2 He claims he only opened his door as a result of coercive police conduct and this coercion effectuated an arrest inside his home at the moment he opened his door. Because this was a routine felony arrest and there were no exigent circumstances, he argues, the subsequent search of his room was barred by the Fourth Amendment.

In reviewing the district court's denial of a motion to suppress, this court considers the evidence in the light most favorable to the government. Cheromiah, 455 F.3d at 1220. This court must accept the district court's factual findings unless those findings are clearly erroneous. United States v. McKissick, 204 F.3d 1282, 1296 (10th Cir.2000). The ultimate determination of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment, however, is a question of law reviewed de novo. Id.

In Payton v. New York, the Supreme Court held that, absent exigent circumstances, police officers may not enter an individual's home without consent to make a warrantless routine felony arrest even if probable cause to arrest the individual exists. 445 U.S. at 576, 100 S.Ct. 1371. Payton held "the Fourth Amendment has drawn a firm line at the entrance to the house." Id.; see also Kirk v. Louisiana, 536 U.S. 635, 638, 122 S.Ct. 2458, 153 L.Ed.2d 599 (2002) (per curiam). That line can be breached by conduct other than physical entry. This court has held that officers need not physically enter the home for Payton to apply. United States v. Maez, 872 F.2d 1444, 1451 (10th Cir.1989). Rather, "it is the location of the arrested person, and not the arresting agents, that determines whether an arrest occurs within a home." Id. (quotation omitted). As a result, although the officers were positioned outside the motel room, Reeves was inside his room at the time he opened his door and we analyze this encounter as occurring within his home.

Encounters between police officers and citizens generally can be categorized as arrests, investigatory stops, or consensual encounters. United States v. Shareef, 100 F.3d 1491, 1500 (10th Cir. 1996). Consensual encounters do not implicate the Fourth Amendment.3 Id. Both arrests and investigatory stops, however, are seizures under the Fourth Amendment. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 16-19, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). Payton's protections apply to all Fourth Amendment seizures of persons inside their homes.4 445 U.S. at 590, 100 S.Ct. 1371 ("In terms that apply equally to seizures of property and to seizures of persons, the Fourth Amendment has drawn a firm line at the entrance to the house. Absent exigent circumstances, that threshold may not reasonably be crossed without a warrant." (emphasis added)); Kirk, 536 U.S. at 638, 122 S.Ct. 2458 ("[P]olice officers need either a warrant or probable cause plus exigent circumstances in order to make a lawful entry into a home."). As a result, labeling an encounter in the home as either an investigatory stop or an arrest is meaningless because Payton's requirements apply to all seizures.5 United States v. Saari, 272 F.3d 804, 809 (6th Cir.2001).

That Payton applies to all warrantless seizures in the home is the only logical outcome. If we were to hold otherwise, it would allow a seizure in the home when only reasonable suspicion exists, yet prohibit a seizure in the home when an officer has probable cause to arrest, but no exigent circumstances. It cannot be the case that Payton's "firm line at the entrance to the house" offers less protection to individuals for whom probable cause to arrest does not exist. 445 U.S. at 576, 100 S.Ct. 1371.

A.

We first consider whether Reeves was seized inside his room and opened the door as a result of coercive police conduct. "[A] person has been `seized' within the...

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