State v. Richardson
| Decision Date | 15 May 2020 |
| Docket Number | DOCKET NO. A-0689-18T2 |
| Parties | STATE OF NEW JERSEY, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. DARREN E. RICHARDSON, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division |
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.
Before Judges Fasciale and Mitterhoff.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Passaic County, Indictment No. 13-03-0272.
John Vincent Saykanic argued the cause for appellant.
Valeria Dominguez, Deputy Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent (Gurbir S. Grewal, Attorney General, attorney; Valeria Dominguez, of counsel and on the brief).
Defendant Darren E. Richardson appeals from a September 21, 2018 judgment of conviction. Following the denial of his motion to suppress, defendant pled guilty to second-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5(a)(1) and N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5(b)(10), and he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment with a five-year period of parole ineligibility.1 On appeal, he raises the following issues:
Based on the affidavit submitted for a communications data warrant (CDW) and the testimony elicited at the suppression hearing, we agree with Judge Joseph A.Portelli's conclusions that the issuance of the CDW was lawful, there was no expectation of privacy in the common area of the storage facility, and defendant was lawfully detained. Accordingly, we affirm.
We discern the following facts from the affidavit submitted for the CDW and from the suppression hearing, where a single witness, Captain Daniel Bachok2 of the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office Narcotics Unit (the Narcotics Unit) testified.
During the summer of 2012,3 the Narcotics Unit began investigating two individuals, defendant and J.S., after confidential informants (CIs) reported that they were dealing marijuana in the Wanaque area. According to Detective Stephen Day of the Narcotics Unit, CI #1 and CI #3 reported that defendant would buy marijuana in California and ship it to New Jersey through the mail, and an anonymous female reported that J.S. planned to travel with defendant. CI #1 also reported that defendant had J.S. drive him around in a dark colored BMW, registered to defendant's brother, and he also used other individuals to "deal for him." CI #2, discovered by Detective Sergeant Charlie Sahanas of theWanaque Police Department, reported that he or she had previously purchased marijuana from defendant and J.S. CI #3 confirmed that he or she had also "dealt with [defendant] in the past" and with J.S., who was known to be one of defendant's "runners." The CIs were deemed reliable because of law enforcement's independent corroboration of the tips, including the fact that CI #1 previously provided tips that "resulted in arrests and seizures of illegal narcotics and United States [c]urrency." Although Captain Bachok did not learn this information firsthand, as the investigation involved several officers, he generally understood this to be the basis for the investigation, and he also understood that defendant and J.S. planned to ship the marijuana in a suitcase.
Based on these tips, the Narcotics Unit prepared to apply for a CDW to track the vehicle J.S. drove to identify the "stash location," defined as the "place[] where drug dealers would leave their drugs sometimes, [but] not at their personal residence." They continued to surveil defendant and J.S., and during the week of September 9, they arranged for CI #3 to participate in a controlled buy of marijuana from J.S.
On September 20, Detective Day applied for "a [CDW] and [s]earch [w]arrant authorizing the continued use of a signal monitoring and tracking device" on the BMW that J.S. drove. The tracker would allow law enforcement"to instantly and continuously track the position and location of the captioned vehicle and receive monitoring signals" to aid in their investigation. Based on the confidential tips, there was The tracker was necessary because law enforcement had "made efforts to conduct surveillance . . . in the past, which [proved] to be very difficult, as [defendant] and . . . [J.S. were] familiar with the Wanaque Police Department [d]etectives and their undercover vehicles." Additionally, "the rural area . . . and minimally traveled roads of civilian vehicles [made] . . . continued surveillance difficult."
The warrant was authorized the same day, and Captain Bachok then installed the tracker on the black BMW identified in the affidavit. Through efforts to track the vehicle, the Narcotics Unit observed what were believed to be "hand to hand drug transactions on several occasions."
On October 1, the Narcotics Unit observed defendant, in a blue BMW, and J.S., in the black BMW, drive to a storage facility on Hamburg Turnpike in Wayne (the storage facility). Captain Bachok described the storage facility as "wide open," meaning storage units could be seen from the street. A chain link fence surrounded the property, and the entrance was guarded by a gate andkeypad. On the property, there were "a bunch of garages all over and . . . surrounding the perimeter."
Defendant drove the blue BMW into unit 3020. According to Captain Bachok, unit 3020 was a garage-like unit accessible from the storage facility's common space, and it was the third unit in from the perimeter. It was about 300 feet away from the entrance and could be "clearly" seen from the public street. After defendant entered the unit, he exited his vehicle and got into the black BMW, and he and J.S. drove away from the storage facility. The Narcotics Unit followed the black BMW to the George Washington Bridge and then tracked it first to John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) and then to LaGuardia Airport (LaGuardia).
On October 3, the Narcotics Unit tracked J.S.'s car to a parking garage at LaGuardia. Inside the airport, it "identif[ied] the airline that [J.S.] had used to fly out to California" and learned that she planned to return to New Jersey on October 4. The following day, it observed J.S. depart from the airplane and leave the LaGuardia parking lot in the black BMW.
On the morning of October 5, the Narcotics Unit tracked J.S. to her mother's home in Wanaque, and Captain Bachok observed her accept a FedEx package, although he was unable to see where she placed the package after sheaccepted it. Soon after, the Narcotics Unit observed J.S. driving away in the black BMW and tracked her to the storage facility. By the time they arrived at the storage facility, J.S. was driving away in the black BMW, so Captain Bachok entered the premises through an open gate, parked in the parking lot, and asked an employee in the office to view the security video. Upon viewing the video, he observed J.S. park in front of unit 3020, get out of the vehicle, enter the storage unit, and get back into the vehicle, but he could not "see her actually do anything."
After J.S. left the storage facility, she was tracked to JFK and then to her and defendant's Oakland residence, and defendant was observed riding in the black BMW upon her return from JFK. Around 8 p.m., they returned to the storage facility. J.S. was driving, defendant was in the front passenger seat, and Lance S. Richardson4 (defendant's nephew) and a woman were in the back. Defendant and Lance exited the vehicle, and J.S. and the female passenger departed in the black BMW.
Defendant and Lance then opened unit 3020. A surveillance unit drove onto the premises of the storage facility "to see what they were doing." CaptainBachok had been unable to observe how the unit gained access to the premises but testified that he was not aware of anyone having an access code to open the gate. The surveillance unit parked on the far side of the storage facility, leaving the center building between them and unit 3020. Detective Sergeant Sahanas also approached unit 3020 on foot and observed from the bushes located on the far side of the end unit nearby. Captain Bachok remained outside the facility and could not "see [what was] going on." At this time, neither he nor anyone else involved in the investigation had seen any contraband on the premises.
After defendant and Lance entered unit 3020, Captain Bachok entered the storage facility and parked his car facing the street. The facility's office was not open at the time, but he was able to enter the premises without a key or passcode because according to him,...
To continue reading
Request your trial