U.S. v. Williams
| Citation | 627 F.3d 247 |
| Decision Date | 25 October 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 10-1608,10-1608 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Aaron WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) |
Stephen Chahn Lee (argued), Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Ralph J. Schindler, Jr. (argued), Attorney, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellant.
Before FLAUM, ROVNER, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.
In July 2008, Chicago police officers pulled over a Suburban at the request of another Chicago police officer, who was a member of a Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA") task force. A subsequent warrantless search of the vehicle, of which defendant-appellant Aaron Williams was the driver, revealed a brick of cocaine. The district court denied Williams's motion to suppress the drug evidence on the grounds that the DEA task force had probable cause for the search, which could be imputed to the officers under the collective knowledge doctrine. Williams entered a guilty plea to one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a substance containing cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), in which he preserved his right to challenge the suppression ruling. The district court sentenced Williams to 60 months of imprisonment. Williams appeals the denial of his motion to suppress.
For the following reasons, we affirm.
In the summer of 2008, the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA") was investigating an alleged drug-trafficking organization. In connection with that investigation, a DEA-led task force used court-authorized wiretaps to intercept phone calls made and received by individuals suspected to be involved in the drug-trafficking ring. On July 15, 2008, the DEA intercepted a series of calls between Bernardo Solano, Filiberto Hinojosa, and Leobardo Barmbila that led them to believe that a drug transaction was going to occur at a suspected stash house located in the 2700 block of North Monitor Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. During one of those calls, Hinojosa informed Solano that "the car parts" had arrived at the "shop." Agents conducted surveillance on the Monitor residence, and stopped an individual later identified as Solano after seeing him leave the house. Solano admitted that he had purchased two kilograms of cocaine at the Monitor residence. From photographs provided by DEA agents, Solano identified Hinojosa as the person from whom he had purchased the cocaine, and Barmbila as the person who he believed had supplied the cocaine.
The following day, the DEA intercepted additional phone calls between Hinojosa and Barmbila, in which they discussed meeting the "black guy" at the "shop on Monitor" later that day. Based on those calls, DEA agents decided to conduct surveillance on the Monitor residence at the anticipated time of the transaction, and to put officers from the Chicago Police Department ("CPD") on standby to assist.
Chicago police officer Daniel Gutierrez, a member of the task force, was responsible for coordinating the DEA's efforts with the CPD. Prior to the anticipated transaction, Gutierrez met with a number of Chicago police officers, including officer Joseph Simon, and told them that a person would be coming to the Monitor residence to purchase narcotics. Gutierrez had not heard the intercepted phone calls himself, but he was in contact with the agents who had monitored the calls. Gutierrez requested that the officers position themselves in the area. He told them that he would provide them with information about the suspect vehicle, and that they should stop the vehicle after developing their own probable cause to do so.
Members of the task force conducting surveillance on the Monitor residence saw Williams and another individual, Ennis Howard, arrive in a Chevy Suburban at approximately 11:30 A.M. Howard and Williams parked the Suburban in an alley behind the Monitor residence and entered the backyard. Williams was carrying abrown shoebox. Approximately fifteen minutes later, agents saw Howard and Williams leave the backyard carrying the brown shoebox, get in the Suburban, and drive away. Gutierrez, who was conducting surveillance near the Monitor residence, saw the Suburban drive away from the Monitor residence and turn onto Diversey Avenue. Gutierrez called Simon, gave him a description of the vehicle and the license plate, and informed him that the vehicle was heading eastbound on Diversey.
Simon and his partner began following the Suburban and eventually stopped the vehicle. Simon instructed Howard and Williams to exit the vehicle. A pat-down search revealed two bags of marijuana in Williams's pocket. A subsequent search of the Suburban by other officers who arrived on the scene led to the discovery of a brown shoebox in the back seat of the Suburban containing a brick of what was later confirmed to be a kilogram of cocaine.
Williams was charged in an indictment with one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a substance containing cocaine. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). On March 31, 2009, Williams filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized by police following the July 16, 2008 traffic stop. At a hearing on the motion, Simon testified that, after following the Suburban for a period of time without observing any traffic violations, he pulled alongside the vehicle. Simon testified that he could see that the passenger-side occupant was not wearing a seat belt, and that he stopped the Suburban based on that violation. While Illinois law requires drivers and (most) passengers of motor vehicles to wear seatbelts, 625 ILCS 5/12-603.1(a), a police officer "may not search or inspect a motor vehicle, its contents, the driver or a passenger solely because of" a driver or passenger's failure to wear a seat belt, id. at § 603.1(f); see also 725 ILCS 5/108-1(3). Simon testified that, at the time of the stop, he was aware that the seat belt violation would not justify a search of the vehicle or its occupants. According to Simon, when he approached the vehicle, he saw "crumbs" of marijuana on the center console and two cigar-like objects in the open ashtray. Based on what he believed to be marijuana in plain view, Simon ordered the occupants to exit the vehicle.
Williams also testified at the suppression hearing. He acknowledged that there were two unsmoked marijuana cigars in the ashtray, but stated that he had closed the ashtray when the vehicle was pulled over. He also testified that there were no "crumbs" or any other marijuana on the center console.
The district court concluded that Simon's testimony was not credible. In reaching that conclusion, the district court relied on Simon's manner of testifying, as well as on Simon's professed strategy for effecting the desired search, which the court concluded made "little sense." According to Simon, he decided to pull the Suburban over for a violation he knew did not provide him with the probable cause he needed to search the vehicle. Then, if Simon is believed, he fortuitously saw marijuana in plain view because-contrary to Williams's testimony-Howard and Williams, knowing they had a kilogram of cocaine in the back seat, left the ashtray containing marijuana open for two approaching officers to see. Finding Simon not to be credible, the district court determined that the search of the Suburban was not supported by the seat belt violation the officers testified that they observed, or the marijuana the officers testified they observed in plain view in the Suburban. The district court nevertheless deniedWilliams's motion to suppress, concluding that the DEA's wiretap investigation and surveillance evidence gave the CPD officers probable cause to search the Suburban under the collective knowledge doctrine.
On December 4, 2009, Williams entered into a conditional guilty plea, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress. On March 2, 2010, the district court sentenced Williams to 60 months of imprisonment. This appeal followed.
On appeal, Williams challenges the denial of his motion to suppress the evidence found during the warrantless search of the vehicle. In reviewing a district court's denial of a motion to suppress evidence, we review conclusions of law de novo and findings of fact for clear error. United States v. Booker, 612 F.3d 596, 599 (7th Cir.2010). Probable cause determinations are mixed questions of law and fact that we review de novo. Id.
Warrantless searches are considered per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment unless one of a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions applies. Arizona v. Gant, --- U.S. ----, 129 S.Ct. 1710, 1716, 173 L.Ed.2d 485 (2009). One such exception to the warrant requirement is the automobile exception, which allows law enforcement to conduct a warrantless search of a vehicle if there is probable cause to believe the vehicle contains contraband or evidence of a crime. See United States v. Zahursky, 580 F.3d 515, 521 (7th Cir.2009); Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 153-56, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925). When probable cause exists to search a vehicle, law enforcement agents are permitted to search all parts of the vehicle in which contraband or evidence could be concealed, including closed compartments, containers, packages, and trunks. United States v. Scott, 516 F.3d 587, 589 (7th Cir.2008); United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 823-24, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982).
Here, our inquiry is two-fold. First, we must decide whether the DEA task force had enough information to support a finding of probable cause to search the vehicle. Second, if so, we must determine whether that information can be imputed to the officers who conducted the stop and search under the collective knowledge doctrine.
Probable cause to search exists where, based on the known facts and circumstances, a reasonably prudent person would...
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