U.S. v. Bates
| Decision Date | 28 May 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-5507,95-5507 |
| Citation | 84 F.3d 790 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Rondell BATES, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Victor L. Ivy (argued and briefed), Office of U.S. Atty., Memphis, TN, for U.S.
Joseph T. Townsend (argued and briefed), Office of Federal Public Defender, Memphis, TN, for Rondell Bates.
Before: KEITH, NELSON, and SILER, Circuit Judges.
The Plaintiff-Appellant, the United States Government, appeals the district court's order granting the Defendant-Appellee, Rondell Bates', motion to suppress evidence obtained during the execution of a search warrant. For the reasons stated below, we AFFIRM the decision of the district court.
On September 30, 1994, members of the Shelby County Sheriff's Department Narcotics Division ("Narcotics Division") executed a search warrant at 5999 North Littlebrook Circle, Apartment 201, Memphis, Tennessee ("Apartment"). The lease to the Apartment was in the name of Jimmy and Essence Bates. The Narcotics Division obtained the search warrant based on information they received from an informant, Kraig Boddie ("Boddie"). Boddie informed officers of the Narcotics Division he had been in the Apartment when Jimmy Bates and Winston Bennett ("Bennett") had received and sold drugs. Boddie also informed Shelby County Sergeant Martin Dunbar ("Sergeant Dunbar") that a multiple kilogram cocaine shipment would soon be delivered to Rondell Bates, Jimmy Bates and Bennett (together "Defendants"). In addition, Boddie told Sergeant Dunbar he had seen a firearm in the Apartment, on top of the refrigerator and that the Defendants had barricaded the front door with a two by four.
Based on the information provided by Boddie, the Narcotics Division applied for and received a warrant to search the Apartment. On the morning of September 30, 1993, Narcotics Division officers established video surveillance of the Apartment. Surveillance officers observed Rondell Bates arrive at the Apartment carrying a large cardboard box, which the officers suspected contained the anticipated cocaine shipment. This suspicion was confirmed by Boddie, who informed Sergeant Dunbar that one of the Defendants told him by phone that a cocaine shipment of fifteen kilograms had arrived. He told Sergeant Dunbar the Defendants had opened the cocaine packages for testing.
In order to execute the warrant, the plan was that some of the officers would use a ladder to gain access to the Apartment through the second floor balcony. The rest of the officers were to bang on the front door, with a battering ram, to draw the attention of those inside the Apartment away from the officers entering via the balcony. However, the officers, prior to ascending the ladder in the Apartment, observed Jimmy Bates standing on the balcony. The officers determined Jimmy was acting as a lookout while those inside the Apartment were testing the cocaine shipment.
On the evening of the 30th, the Narcotics Division executed their prearranged plan. The officers entered the Apartment without knocking as the other group of officers ascended the ladder to the second floor balcony. The officers ascending the balcony announced they were law enforcement officers as they were climbing up the ladder. As the officers started coming up the ladder, Jimmy Bates ran into the apartment and then back out onto the balcony where he was arrested in possession of a .32 caliber pistol. When the officers began ramming the door, Rondell Bates ran out of the apartment onto the balcony where he also was apprehended. Inside the Apartment, Sergeant Dunbar discovered fifteen kilograms of cocaine at the end of the couch with a firearm in the immediate vicinity.
The video surveillance of the front door entry verified that the officers executing the warrant did not knock and announce their presence before breaking down the door to the Apartment. The video also shows it took the officers entering the Apartment through the front door less than ten seconds to open the door, despite the reported barricade.
On October 17, 1994, the Defendants were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for the Western District of Tennessee. The three count indictment charged the Defendants with a variety of narcotics related crimes. Count One charged them with conspiring to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 946. Count Two charged the Defendants with aiding and abetting each other in the possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. The final count charged Rondell and Jimmy Bates with carrying and using a firearm during the commission of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(e).
Rondell Bates filed a motion to suppress the evidence obtained during the execution of the search warrant. He asserted that the Narcotic Division officers' failure to knock and announce their presence before entering the apartment rendered the subsequent search of the Apartment unconstitutional.
A federal magistrate judge held a suppression hearing on January 20, 1995. On January 31, 1995, the magistrate judge filed a report recommending that Rondell Bates' motion to suppress be denied. The magistrate judge found the circumstances surrounding the execution of the warrant were exigent thereby excusing compliance with the requirement that they knock and announce their presence. Rondell promptly filed objections to the magistrate judge's report.
At the magistrate judge's suppression hearing, Sergeant Dunbar testified that the officers executing the search warrant did not announce their presence and purpose out of fear the Defendants would dispose of the cocaine before the officers could enter the Apartment. Sergeant Dunbar further testified that the possible presence of a weapon in the Apartment was an additional factor in the decision to enter the Apartment without first knocking and announcing. However, Sergeant Dunbar also testified he believed it was highly unlikely anyone could have disposed of fifteen kilograms of cocaine in the time it would have taken the officers to enter the Apartment after knocking and announcing their presence. In addition, Sergeant Dunbar told the magistrate judge he had no information or facts indicating the Defendants were violent and would use a weapon when confronted by law enforcement personnel.
On March 1, 1995, the district court issued its opinion denying Rondell Bates' motion to suppress on different grounds from those relied on by the magistrate judge. The district court denied Rondell Bates' motion to suppress after determining Rondell did not have standing to challenge the execution of the search warrant because did he not reside at the Apartment. Since the district court denied the motion to suppress based on Rondell Bates' lack of standing, its opinion contained no discussion of whether exigent circumstances excused compliance with the knock and announce requirement.
On March 6, 1995, the district court reconsidered Rondell Bates' motion to suppress and held a hearing to determine whether Rondell Bates had standing to challenge the execution of the search warrant. After finding Rondell Bates did have standing to challenge the search, the district court orally granted the motion to suppress. A written order, granting the motion to suppress was entered on March 9, 1995. The district court found the officers' fear that the Defendants would dispose of the cocaine was unreasonable and did not eliminate the need for the officers to knock and announce their presence before entering the Apartment. The district court reasoned "it would be real difficult to dispose of 15 kilograms of cocaine before [the officers] made a knock and announce entry." In addition, the district court found that the possibility a weapon was in the apartment did not create an exigency because there was no indication the Defendants would use the weapon and place the officers' safety at risk.
The government filed a timely notice of interlocutory appeal.
The government claims the district court erred by granting Rondell Bates' motion to suppress. It claims there were sufficient exigent circumstances to warrant an entry not first accompanied by an announcement of the officers' presence and authority.
This Court reviews a district court's legal conclusions with respect to a motion to suppress de novo. United States v. Radka, 904 F.2d 357, 361 (6th Cir.1990); United States v. Maden, 64 F.3d 1505, 1508 (10th Cir.1995). However, the "district court's factual findings on the existence of exigent circumstances will be disturbed only if they are clearly erroneous." Radka, 904 F.2d at 361. In addition, we must "review the evidence in the light most likely to support the district court's decision." United States v. Roark, 36 F.3d 14, 16 (6th Cir.1994) (quoting United States v. Williams, 962 F.2d 1218, 1221 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 892, 113 S.Ct. 264, 121 L.Ed.2d 194 (1992)). The government bears the burden of proving exigent circumstances existed. Id. at 17; Maden, 64 F.3d at 1509.
Title 18, United States Code, section 3109 states:
An officer may break open any outer or inner door or window of a house, or any part of a house, or anything therein, to execute a search warrant, if, after notice of his authority and purpose, he is refused admittance or when necessary to liberate himself or a person aiding him in the execution of the warrant.
18 U.S.C. § 3109 (1985). Thus, law enforcement officers must knock and announce their presence and authority before entering a residence to execute a warrant. See Miller v. United States, 357 U.S. 301, 313, 78 S.Ct. 1190, 1197-98, 2 L.Ed.2d 1332 (1958); United States v. Nabors, 901 F.2d 1351, 1354 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 871, 111 S.Ct. 192, 112 L.Ed.2d 154 (1990). As...
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