U.S. v. Anderson
| Decision Date | 01 April 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. Crim. 98-50061.,Crim. 98-50061. |
| Citation | 42 F.Supp.2d 713 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Kellie Edward ANDERSON, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan |
Federal Defender, Federal Defender Office, Flint, MI, for Kellie Edward Anderson, defendant.
James C. Mitchell, U.S. Atty's Office, Bay City, MI, for U.S.
Presently before the Court is defendant Kellie Edward Anderson's motion to suppress evidence filed on January 29, 1999. The instant motion seeks suppression of evidence resulting from defendant's arrest and search on April 2, 1998 and from a search of his upstairs rooms located in his mother's residence located at 1511 Wayne Street conducted on April 3, 1998. Defendant's motion also includes a request for suppression of inculpatory statements made by defendant after his arrest on April 2, 1998 and after the search of his mother's residence on April 3, 1998.
Police officers stopped defendant's minivan after he had allegedly committed a minor traffic violation. Defendant was removed from the vehicle, arrested and searched. The search revealed 15 to 20 rocks of crack cocaine taken from defendant's right front pants pocket. Thereafter, in the early morning hours of April 3, 1998, police officers conducted a search of his rooms in his mother's residence, which uncovered, inter alia, crack cocaine, marijuana, money, scales, a firearm, ammunition, packaging materials, and drug paraphernalia. Defendant was interviewed again later that morning, at which time he made further inculpatory statements regarding his involvement in drug trafficking activities. The government responded to defendant's motion to suppress on February 4, 1999.
On February 19, 1999, an evidentiary hearing was conducted. Defendant called two witnesses: his mother, Mrs. Bobbie Anderson, and Mr. Cameron Henke, an investigator with the Federal Defender's Office. The government presented the testimony of Officer Michael Angus, Officer Mark Gern, and Sgt. Harold Payer, all employed by the Flint Police Department. At the close of the hearing, the Court instructed the parties to submit supplemental briefs on the issue of the efficacy of defendant's mother's consent to search the upstairs portion of the residence occupied by defendant, as well as any other issues germane to the instant case. Accordingly, defendant submitted a supplemental brief on March 4, 1999 and the government filed a brief in opposition on March 12, 1999.
For the reasons set forth below, the Court will deny defendant's motion to suppress evidence.
On April 2, 1998, at approximately 7:00 p.m., officers of the Flint Police Department began a surveillance of the residence located at 1511 Wayne Street. Police had information that an African-American male individual who drove a black minivan resided at the address and was involved in the selling of crack cocaine. At approximately 8:00 p.m., the officers began following a 1998 GMC black minivan after its departure from 1511 Wayne Street.
Shortly after 10:00 p.m., one of the surveilling officers, Officer Michael Angus, observed Anderson fail to come to a stop while driving out of the parking lot of the Park Manor Apartment complex onto Lapeer Road. Officer Angus then followed Anderson in an unmarked police car for several blocks, purportedly observing him driving between 5 to 10 miles per hour in excess of the speed limit. Flint Police Officers Mark Gern and Christopher Bigelow, driving a fully marked police car, were then directed by Angus to stop Anderson for the above-mentioned violations of the traffic laws.
At the hearing, Officer Angus testified that defendant's van failed to come to a stop before entering onto Lapeer Road, in violation of the traffic laws. Angus further testified that he estimated, using his best judgment and experience, that the van was traveling 40 miles per hour in the 35 miles per hour speed zone. According to Angus, he contacted dispatch at the time he was pacing the van, whereupon Officers Gern and Bigelow responded and subsequently stopped the vehicle shortly after it turned onto Dort Highway.
According to Officer Gern's testimony, he was the first officer to approach the van at the driver's side window. Officer Angus testified that as he approached the window, he saw Officer Gern step back from the window, whereupon Gern informed Angus that defendant was moving his hands around his waistband area, indicating that he could have a weapon. Both Angus and Gern stated at the hearing that at this point, however, neither officer drew his weapon.
According to Officer Angus, fearing the possibility of a weapon, he approached the driver's side window and directed defendant to place his hands first on the steering wheel and then on the open windowsill where they could be seen. From his position adjacent to and above the driver's side door, Officer Angus testified that while defendant's hands were still on the steering wheel, the officer observed a package of cigarette rolling papers and a baggie containing suspected marijuana visible in defendant's open left coat pocket. According to Angus, defendant was then ordered by the officer to step out of the vehicle and was placed under arrest. In the resulting search incident to arrest, police seized 15 to 20 rocks of crack cocaine from defendant's right front pants pocket.
Sgt. Harold Payer testified that at the Criminal Investigation Bureau interview room shortly after the arrest, defendant gave a statement to police after being read his Miranda rights. At this point in time, it is uncontested that defendant admitted to selling crack cocaine, making approximately $30 to $40 per night to supplement his income. Defendant further informed Sgt. Payer that he resided with his mother, Ms. Bobbie Anderson, in a residence located at 1511 Wayne Street. Defendant also stated, according to Payer, that he lived with his girlfriend at another location approximately two days per week.
Sgt. Payer testified that after consulting with a Genesee County assistant prosecuting attorney, Officer Felix Trevino, Officer Angus, and he went to 1511 Wayne Street. At the residence, Sgt. Payer testified that he approached the front door and advised defendant's mother, Mrs. Bobbie Anderson, of her son's arrest and that the officers suspected that additional crack cocaine was located in the home. Sgt. Payer further testified that at this point Mrs. Anderson invited the officers inside the home.
Once inside the home, Sgt. Payer requested that Mrs. Anderson sign a consent form allowing the police to search the residence. Sgt. Payer testified that Mrs. Anderson responded affirmatively when asked whether she was able to read. Thereafter, the sergeant and Mrs. Anderson sat at the dining room table where he went through the form with her and she "followed along." Mrs. Anderson then signed and dated the form in the appropriate boxes.
According to Sgt. Payer, Mrs. Anderson said that she does not "usually" go upstairs, but that her grandchildren do go upstairs from time to time. Mrs. Anderson also indicated that she was suffering from lupus. According to Sgt. Payer, Mrs. Anderson did not indicate that she had "never" gone upstairs nor downstairs to the basement, but did indicate that she avoided the upstairs rooms because she suspected her son's illegal activities.
Mrs. Anderson's testimony at the hearing is largely consistent with Sgt. Payer's account of the events which transpired prior to the search on April 3, 1998. However, Mrs. Anderson did testify that she could not read, not due to physical infirmity, but due to illiteracy. She stated at the hearing that after she admitted the police officers into the house, they told her that if she did not sign the form that she they would come back during daylight hours. According to Mrs. Anderson's testimony, the officers indicated that if they had to return they would tear the place up and she felt scared. Sgt. Payer, however, denies that any threats of any kind were made. Also according to Mrs. Anderson, she told the officers she "never" goes upstairs due to lupus.
After Mrs. Anderson completed the consent form, which she does not deny signing, the officers searched the upstairs portion of the house, consisting of a bedroom, an entertainment room and a closet in the hallway. The hallway to the upstairs communicates with the stairway and there is no door or other obstruction of any kind preventing access. There is no indication that either the door to the bedroom or the entertainment room was locked.
The search lasted approximately three hours and was confined to the upstairs. Police seized crack cocaine, marijuana, money, scales, a firearm, ammunition, packaging materials, and drug paraphernalia, among other items. After the search, on April 3, 1998, at 3:15 a.m., defendant was again interviewed by Sgt. Payer. After being advised of and waiving his Miranda rights, defendant further detailed his narcotics activities and acknowledged his ownership of the items seized from 1511 Wayne Street.
There are two separate searches at issue in the instant case. The first concerns a search incident to defendant's arrest on April 2, 1998, conducted after police officers stopped defendant's minivan after an alleged traffic violation. The second event under consideration is the search on April 3, 1998 of defendant's upstairs rooms in his mother's residence located at 1511 Wayne Street, conducted after police officers purportedly obtained Mrs. Anderson's third-party consent. The Court will address the validity of each of these searches seriatim.
The first issue presented in the context of the stop of defendant's van is whether the stop itself was valid. The government readily admits that the...
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