U.S. v. Briones-Garza

• Citation: 680 F.2d 417
• Decision Date: 16 July 1982
• Docket Number: BRIONES-GARZA,No. 81-2415,81-2415
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Hugo Eduardoa/k/a Juan Ramirez-Ramirez, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

Page 417

680 F.2d 417

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Hugo Eduardo BRIONES-GARZA a/k/a Juan Ramirez-Ramirez,

Defendant-Appellant.

No. 81-2415.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

July 16, 1982.

Roland E. Dahlin, II, Federal Public Defender, Karen K. Brown, George McCall Secrest, Jr., Asst. Federal Public Defenders, Houston, Tex., for defendant-appellant.

Anna E. Stool, Asst. U. S. Atty., Houston, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before CLARK, Chief Judge, POLITZ and RANDALL, Circuit Judges.

CLARK, Chief Judge:

In United States v. Briones-Garza, 651 F.2d 364 (5th Cir. 1981), we remanded this case to the district court to determine whether the search of a house pursuant to an arrest warrant violated the fourth amendment rights of Hugo Eduardo Briones-Garza, an occupant of the house. On remand, the district court found that Briones-Garza lacked a sufficient expectation of privacy in the house to establish a violation of his rights and reimposed sentence. We affirm that finding but vacate the sentence and remand for further consideration.

I.

Briones-Garza was arrested when police entered a "drop house" in Houston in search of a fugitive. "Drop house" is the vernacular for a dwelling that serves as a way station of a smuggling racket. In this venture illegal aliens were brought across the border, taken to the house in Houston, and held hostage until they or their relatives paid the smugglers additional sums of money to buy their freedom.

Three women escaped from the smugglers and went to the police. They identified Rigoberto Rodriguez, a known smuggler, as one of the men who had a part in bringing them to Houston and told the police that they had seen Rodriguez enter the drop house early that morning. Rather than procure a search warrant for the house, the police decided to act on the basis of an outstanding arrest warrant issued against Rodriguez. On entering the drop house police found over fifty illegal aliens crowded into two small rooms. They seized records of the enterprise and arrested Briones-Garza, his codefendants, and the illegal aliens.

Briones-Garza moved to suppress the evidence gathered during the search on the ground that an arrest warrant issued against Rodriguez did not justify the search of a third party's house. The district court denied the motion. Briones-Garza then waived his right to a jury and agreed to stand trial on the basis of the evidence adduced at the motion to suppress and on the stipulation that one of the aliens who had been detained would testify that Briones-Garza had checked him in, fed him and acted as a guard and that one of the officers would testify that Briones-Garza had confessed to the same acts. The district court found Briones-Garza guilty of harboring aliens and sentenced him to a three-year probated sentence beginning May 9, 1980.

On appeal, this court did not reach the issue of whether the search of the drop house violated Steagald v. United States, 451 U.S. 204, 101 S.Ct. 1642, 68 L.Ed.2d 38 (1981). See 651 F.2d at 365. Instead, it remanded to determine whether Briones-Garza had a sufficient expectation of privacy in the drop house to support a fourth amendment claim.

On remand, the district court determined that Briones-Garza was himself an illegal alien who had been brought to the drop house approximately three weeks before his arrest. Because he lacked the money to buy his freedom, the smugglers allowed him to work off his debt by tending the people they brought to the house. Briones-Garza's status in the drop house was only one step removed from that of the other immigrants who were being held hostage there. Indeed, defense counsel conceded to the district court that "Briones was as much a hostage as anybody else ...." Although the other immigrants were not allowed to leave, Briones-Garza was apparently trusted enough that he was allowed to come and go at will. He did not, however, control the people coming into the house. He had no key and was required to admit whoever was sent.

The drop house where the immigrants were held consisted of three rooms. One room, a small bedroom, was occupied by Poncho, the man who ran the drop house, and his wife. Briones-Garza slept on a couch in the living room and kept his belongings in a suitcase. ¹ He shared the living room with two other regular occupants and approximately fifty illegal immigrants who were being held there. These immigrants filled both the living room and the remaining room in the house. The police who searched the house testified that there was "(j)ust barely enough room to walk around."

On the basis of these facts, the district court found that Briones-Garza had no reasonable expectation of privacy. Because the sentence previously imposed had been vacated on appeal, the district court reinstated the same three-year probated sentence. The new sentence, however, was to begin on the date of the hearing on remand, October 7, 1981, rather than the date Briones-Garza had originally been sentenced, May 9, 1980.

II.

Briones-Garza contends that the district court erred in denying him standing to challenge i) his own arrest; ii) the seizure of ledgers from Poncho's bedroom; iii) the search of his own possessions; and iv) testimony about and by the illegal aliens he was guarding. Before reaching the merits of Briones-Garza's argument, it is necessary to determine exactly what evidence is at issue. While Briones-Garza has sought to suppress any use of the ledgers and his own possessions, neither was relied on by the prosecution in the district court. Although one of the officers mentioned that ledgers had been found, he never discussed their contents. Indeed, the evidence before the district court consisted of the testimony of one of the illegal immigrants and the testimony of one of the officers that Briones-Garza had confessed to acting as a guard. Briones-Garza contends that this testimony can be suppressed as a fruit of the allegedly illegal search of the drop house. ² See United States v. Cruz, 581 F.2d 535 (5th Cir. 1978) (en banc).

To suppress this evidence Briones-Garza must not only prove that the search of the drop house was illegal but also that, as an initial matter, he had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the drop house. See Rawlings v. Kentucky, 448 U.S. 98, 104, 100 S.Ct. 2556, 2561, 65 L.Ed.2d 633 (1980); Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 131 n.1, 99 S.Ct. 421, 424 n.1, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978). This second consideration derives from the personal nature of fourth amendment rights. A person whose privacy has not been invaded has suffered no constitutional deprivation. See Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. at 133-34, 99 S.Ct. at 425-26.

Whether a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy turns on the facts of each case. See id. at 146-48, 99 S.Ct. at 432-33; United States v. Haydel, 649 F.2d 1152, 1154-55 (5th Cir. 1981). In Haydel, we found that the factors which bear on this issue include:

whether the defendant has a (property or) possessory interest in the thing seized or the place searched; whether he has the right to exclude others from that place; whether he has exhibited a subjective expectation that it would remain free from governmental invasion, whether he took normal precautions to maintain his privacy and whether he was legitimately on the premises.

649 F.2d at 1155. Applying these factors to the case at bar, we agree with the district court that Briones-Garza lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy in the drop house. ³

Briones-Garza had neither a property nor a possessory interest in the drop house. He was, however, legitimately on the premises. He had resided at the drop house for three weeks before his arrest. Indeed, Poncho, who was in charge of the drop house, had not only permitted Briones-Garza to stay there but had required him to do so until he worked off his debt.

Briones-Garza contends that the fact of his residence was sufficient by itself to establish an expectation of privacy. While we agree that a person normally expects his residence to be private, the facts of this case belie such an argument here. Rakas established that in determining whether a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, a court should eschew labels. See 439 U.S. at 144-48, 99 S.Ct. at 431-33. Rakas held that the fact that a person was "legitimately on the premises" was not necessarily dispositive of his expectations of privacy. The nature of the premises and the circumstances of the case instead reveal the extent of a person's expectations. Were we to accept Briones-Garza's claim that residence equals privacy, we would substitute the label "residence" for the rejected phrase "legitimately on the premises" in violation of Rakas' clear command. While residence may often be an important consideration, it is not talismanic. See United States v. Haydel, 649 F.2d at 1154.

In the case at bar, Briones-Garza shared his quarters with an ever changing group of approximately fifty other people who were constantly being shuttled in and out of the house. Although Briones-Garza did eat and sleep at the drop house, the place was not a residence in any normal sense of the word. It was more akin to a hotel lobby through which a constant stream of shifting people pass, rendering normal expectations of privacy virtually nonexistent. Thus, the nature of the place where Briones-Garza was required to stay does not indicate it would support any reasonable expectation of privacy on his part.

Briones-Garza argues, however, that the fact that illegal aliens were admitted to the drop house neither exposed the house to the public nor constituted a waiver of any expectations of privacy. He contends that this is so because the illegal immigrants had an interest in maintaining the secrecy of the operation. In support of his position, he relies on Mancusi v. DeForte, 392 U.S. 364, 88 S.Ct. 2120, ...