U.S. v. Aldaco

• Decision Date: 26 February 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-2533.,06-2533.
• Citation: 477 F.3d 1008
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Samson ALDACO, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

477 F.3d 1008

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Samson ALDACO, Appellant.

No. 06-2533.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: December 12, 2006.

Filed: February 26, 2007.

Jessica Milburn, argued (Michael T. Levy, Omaha, NE, on the brief), for appellant.

Susan T. Lehr, Asst. U.S. Attorney, argued, for appellee.

Before BYE, COLLOTON, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

BYE, Circuit Judge.

After a bench trial, Samson Aldaco was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1), and 846 and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). He appeals the district court's¹ denial of his motions to suppress evidence obtained from a search of his wallet two to three weeks after his arrest and from statements made to police four and five days after his arrest; the denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment as violative of the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 3161-3174, and his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial; and the denial of his motion for acquittal based on insufficiency of the evidence. We affirm.

I

On December 7, 2001, a sheriff's deputy in Omaha, Nebraska, stopped Aldaco for driving a vehicle, a Ford Mustang, without headlights after sunset. After being informed the Mustang might have been at the scene of a shooting earlier in the evening, officers conducted a high-risk stop. The occupants of the Mustang were arrested, firearms were recovered, and the vehicle was towed so it could be secured for a search after obtaining a search warrant. Later that day, officers obtained and executed a search warrant (not challenged in this appeal) which authorized the search of the Mustang. Along with other evidence seized, several wallets, including Aldaco's wallet, were taken from the glove compartment of the Mustang. Officer Leland Cass of the Omaha Police Department (OPD) testified at the suppression hearing he searched Aldaco's wallet "to determine who may have owned it" and discovered "ID papers and things of that nature." Suppression Hr'g Tr. 47-48, Apr. 2, 2003. Officer Cass's report of the search noted appellant's wallet was taken for safekeeping but did not note what was contained therein. Officer Cass testified he had seen identification and a birth certificate. Id. at 51.

Officer Cass did not consider the wallet to be evidence. He took the wallet to the OPD homicide office on December 7, 2001. Officer Bruce Ferrell, an investigator with the OPD gang intelligence squad, testified at the suppression hearing he looked through Aldaco's wallet on December 7, 2001, at the homicide office:

At that point we had conducted an interview earlier in the day with an individual . . . who had indicated that Mr. Aldaco and others were involved in a multi-state narcotics investigation—or distribution network of which we were going to begin an investigation. I was trying to determine if there was any intelligence that we could gather from that wallet as well as if there was any more information about individuals who may be witnesses or other suspects who had fled the scene of the homicide and had not yet been talked to by homicide.

Suppression Hr'g Tr. 78-79, Apr. 2, 2003. Officer Ferrell testified he reviewed all the paperwork found in and associated with Aldaco's wallet. He found "some papers that had some handwritten notes" but, at the time, the notes did not have any specific relevance to him. Id. at 79. He testified he took note of the phone numbers he had seen in the wallet. After review by homicide officers, the wallet was kept in a labeled, sealed envelope in a safe in the OPD homicide office from December 7-20, 2001; Officer Cass booked the wallet into the property room at the OPD on December 20, 2001.

On December 7, 2001, Officer Wayne Melcher conducted an interview of appellant regarding the shooting. The interview was videotaped. Officer Melcher shook hands with Aldaco, identified himself, and asked some biographical questions. He conducted the interview in English, and Aldaco appeared to have no difficulty understanding or speaking English. Officer Melcher advised him of his Miranda² rights, and Aldaco stated he understood them and agreed to talk with Officer Melcher. After the interview began, Officer Teresa Negron joined Officer Melcher and appellant in the interview room. The interview lasted approximately one and a half hours. During the interview, he did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, did not ask for an attorney, and did not ask for the questioning to stop. He was not promised anything nor was he threatened. The interview ended when Officers Melcher and Negron concluded their questioning.

Between December 7 and December 11, 2001, Aldaco was interviewed by an immigration services officer; he told the officer he wanted to speak with the homicide detectives again. The immigration services officer informed Officer Negron as to Aldaco wanting to talk with Officer Melcher again.

On December 11, 2001, Officers Melcher and Negron went to the Douglas County Corrections facility and contacted Aldaco who affirmed he wanted to talk with them. Officers Melcher and Negron transported him to OPD Headquarters and talked with him in a videotaped interview. Aldaco informed them he had been appointed an attorney on state homicide charges but wanted to speak with them without the attorney present. Aldaco told the officers about his connection to the shooting and about some of his drug trafficking connections. He also stated he wanted to talk with OPD narcotics officers.

Aldaco was interviewed on December 12, 2001, by Officer Stephen Sanchelli, a narcotics investigator. Officer Negron contacted Officer Sanchelli regarding his request to speak with narcotics officers about methamphetamine distribution. Officer Sanchelli understood Aldaco was charged in a homicide case in which he was represented by an attorney but wanted to cooperate in the methamphetamine distribution investigation. Officer Sanchelli asked if the appellant had been advised of his Miranda rights and was told by Officer Negron that he had been so advised. The interview was conducted in English, and he had no difficulty communicating with Officer Sanchelli. Officer Sanchelli introduced himself, displayed his police badge, and stated he understood Aldaco wanted to talk with him regarding narcotics trafficking. Aldaco confirmed such was the case. He said it was his understanding there were no promises or deals for him, there were no threats to get him to interview with the officers, and the interview was initiated by him and given of his own free will. Officer Sanchelli told him in order for him to conduct the interview, Aldaco had to waive his right to self-incrimination and his right to an attorney. He stated he understood and waived those rights. During the interview he neither asked for an attorney nor asked for the questioning to stop. The questioning stopped when Officer Sanchelli concluded his questioning.

During the interview, Aldaco gave various names of individuals involved in drug trafficking. Following the interview, sometime between December 20 and 27, 2001, Officer Ferrell, who had been present for the December 12 interview, went to the OPD property room to review the contents of Aldaco's wallet. At the suppression hearing, Officer Ferrell explained why he went back to look at the wallet: "[T]o verify . . . what I thought I had seen and the notes that I had taken on the 7th" and "to verify that I had correctly taken down the information that I did on the 7th." Suppression Hr'g Tr. 80, 82, Apr. 2, 2003. As a result of this "second look" at the wallet, Ferrell discovered a notation of the name "Chuck Knight" and various telephone numbers which proved material to the criminal investigation.

On January 24, 2002, Aldaco, Dale Herman, and Charlie Knight were charged in district court with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine; Aldaco was arraigned on February 20, 2002. A second count charging him with carrying a firearm in connection with the drug offense was added in a second superceding indictment; he was arraigned on the second count on March 7, 2005. On May 23, 2005, he waived his right to trial by jury, and a bench trial began on May 24, 2005. The district court denied his motion for acquittal. On November 9, 2005, the district court adjudged him guilty on Counts I and II of the second superceding indictment. On May 22, 2006, the district court sentenced him to a term of life on Count I and eighty-four months on Count II to be served consecutively. Judgment was entered on June 2, 2006, and this appeal followed.

II

A. Motions to Suppress Evidence and Statements

Aldaco appeals the denial of his motions to suppress evidence obtained from the warrantless second search of his wallet two to three weeks after his arrest and from the statements made to police without having been read his Miranda rights on December 11-12, 2001. 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. Londondio, 420 F.3d 777, 783 (8th Cir. 2005).

1. Wallet Search

Aldaco does not challenge the initial seizure and search of his wallet in conjunction with the December 7, 2001, search of the Mustang pursuant to a valid search warrant. Instead, he argues once officers determined the wallet had no evidentiary value and logged it into personal property storage, the officers needed to obtain a search warrant or his consent to search the wallet a second time. Thus, he contends the district court erred in not suppressing the evidence found in the wallet and evidence derived from that evidence, namely the testimony of cooperating individuals who testified against him at...