U.S. v. Corral-Corral

• Decision Date: 28 March 1990
• Docket Number: D,CORRAL-CORRA,No. 89-8004,89-8004
• Citation: 899 F.2d 927
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Reneefendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 927

899 F.2d 927

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Rene CORRAL-CORRAL, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 89-8004.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

March 28, 1990.

Lisa E. Leschuck, Asst. U.S. Atty. (Richard A. Stacy, U.S. Atty., with her on the brief), Cheyenne, Wyo., for plaintiff-appellant.

Glenn A. Duncan, Laramie, Wyo., for defendant-appellee.

Before LOGAN and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges and PHILLIPS, District Judge. ^*

PHILLIPS, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

On April 18, 1988, four grams of cocaine and $298,919.00 in cash were seized from Rene Corral-Corral's vehicle pursuant to a traffic stop and consent search near Laramie, Wyoming. Several hours later, law enforcement officers obtained a search warrant from a California state municipal judge for Corral's residence in Pittsburg, California. Pursuant to this search warrant, the officers seized one kilogram of cocaine, a small quantity of marijuana, a Browning B-80 12-gauge shotgun, a Remington 22-caliber bolt action rifle and a Browning 380 automatic handgun.

In a thorough opinion, the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming upheld the traffic stop and consent search of Corral's vehicle, but suppressed the evidence seized from Corral's residence, rejecting the state municipal judge's probable cause determination. United States v. Corral-Corral, 702 F.Supp. 1539, 1547-51 (D.Wyo.1988). Specifically, the district court found that "a small quantity of drugs and a large sum of money found in a vehicle pursuant to a consent search [did not] amount to probable cause to search a residence 1000 miles away." Corral, 702 F.Supp. at 1548. Moreover, the district court refused to apply the "good faith exception" to the exclusionary rule as set forth in United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984), concluding that "the affidavit was 'so lacking in the indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence unreasonable.' " Corral, 702 F.Supp. at 1550.

The government appeals pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3731. ¹ Assuming but not holding that the affidavit fails to establish probable cause, we believe the district court erred in refusing to apply the "good faith exception" to the exclusionary rule as set forth in Leon. Specifically, we find that the affidavit was not so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable, and hold that the officers' reliance on the probable cause determination of the state municipal judge was objectively reasonable. Leon, 468 U.S. at 923, 926, 104 S.Ct. at 3420, 3422. Accordingly, we REVERSE.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Whether the "good faith exception" to the exclusionary rule should be applied is a question of law, subject to de novo review by this court. United States v. Leary, 846 F.2d 592, 606 (10th Cir.1988).

III. BACKGROUND

On the afternoon of April 18, 1988, while heading west on I-80 approximately thirteen miles west of Laramie, Wyoming, defendant-appellee Rene Corral-Corral was stopped for speeding by a state patrolman. Corral's driver's license listed his address as 110 Northstar Drive, Pittsburg, California. His vehicle, a 1983 Ford Thunderbird, displayed a California license plate but was registered in California under the name of Javier Padilla. When questioned about the registration, Corral informed the patrolman that he was able to purchase the car at a discounted price of $4,000.00 because he was willing to pick it up in Aurora. Authorities later learned that Corral was returning to California from Aurora, Illinois.

With Corral's consent, the patrolman searched the luggage located inside the automobile's trunk and discovered a black suitcase containing $298,919.00 in cash. Corral denied any knowledge of the money. A short time later, a backup patrolman recovered four grams of cocaine from a small toiletry bag found in the automobile's passenger compartment. Although the patrolman had not informed Corral where he found the cocaine, upon viewing the substance, Corral promptly claimed "[t]hat wasn't in the bag when I put the other things in there." Corral, 702 F.Supp. at 1541.

Corral was arrested and transported to Laramie where authorities placed him in the custody of two agents of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. A federal Drug Enforcement Administration official informed the agents that contact had been made with Pittsburg, California detectives who were in the process of making an initial warrantless entry into the premises at 110 Northstar Drive to prevent the possible destruction of contraband. Wyoming agent Tony Hinton phoned Sergeant Evan Kohler, head of the Pittsburgh police department's narcotics division, and advised him of the facts surrounding Corral's arrest. Agent Hinton twice more phoned Sergeant Kohler, the latter time to inform him that Corral would soon be using the phone. Corral's repeated collect calls to 110 Northstar Drive were refused. Id. at 1541-42.

At 1:35 a.m. on April 19, 1988, about seven hours after authorities seized the premises without a warrant, a California state municipal judge signed a search warrant for 110 Northstar Drive. The affidavit in support of the warrant, prepared by Sergeant Kohler, detailed the stop of Corral, his consent to search the automobile and the results of the search. The affidavit further indicated that at the time of his arrest, Corral reported his address as 110 Northstar Drive, Pittsburg, California. Supplemental portions of the affidavit described the conduct of two of Corral's acquaintances who arrived at 110 Northstar Drive while the officers were awaiting the presentation of the search warrant to the state judge. Based upon both this information, and his education and experience, Sergeant Kohler formed the opinion that Corral was a drug trafficker operating out of 110 Northstar Drive. The search of the premises disclosed one kilogram of cocaine, a small quantity of marijuana, indicia of Corral's occupancy, and several firearms. Id. at 1542, 1547-48.

Corral was indicted in the Wyoming federal district court for conspiracy to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 841(a)(1) & 846, and for interstate travel in aid of racketeering in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1952(a)(3). Prior to trial, Corral moved to suppress the fruits of the purportedly illegal search of 110 Northstar Drive under the exclusionary rule of the fourth amendment. Following a lengthy suppression hearing, Corral's motion to suppress the evidence seized during the search of his residence was sustained by the district court. Corral, 702 F.Supp. at 1551. The government now seeks interlocutory review of the district court's suppression order.

IV. THE WARRANTLESS ENTRY OF CORRAL'S RESIDENCE

At the suppression hearing, Corral asserted that because the initial warrantless entry at 110 Northstar Drive violated the fourth amendment, the evidence seized from the premises necessarily must be suppressed as fruit of the poisonous tree. The district court concluded that the entry and securing of the premises was unjustified for lack of probable cause but did not explain the attendant consequences. Corral, 702 F.Supp. at 1548-49. We believe both Corral and the district court misapprehended the import of the warrantless entry.

In Segura v. United States, 468 U.S. 796, 104 S.Ct. 3380, 82 L.Ed.2d 599 (1984), the Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether "an earlier illegal entry ... requires suppression of evidence seized later from a private residence pursuant to a valid search warrant which was issued on information obtained by the police before the entry into the residence." Id. at 797-98, 104 S.Ct. at 3382. The Court held that where an independent source is present for a search warrant under which evidence is seized, the legality or illegality of an initial warrantless entry has no bearing on the admissibility of the evidence. The Court rejected the notion that "but for" the illegal entry, the suspects could have destroyed evidence used against them: "The essence of [defendant's argument] is that there is some 'constitutional right' to destroy evidence. This concept defies both logic and common sense." Id. at 816, 104 S.Ct. at 3391.

Segura controls our resolution of this first issue. The issuance of the search warrant and discovery of the cocaine, marijuana and firearms within the residence were wholly unrelated to the initial warrantless entry. The evidence was uncovered only as a result of the search conducted pursuant to the warrant. Moreover, none of the information on which the warrant was secured related to the initial warrantless entry. Because the evidence in our case, like in Segura, was the product of the search pursuant to the warrant, not the initial warrantless entry, the legality of the warrantless entry is not at issue. See id. at 814, 104 S.Ct. at 3390; [Record, Tr. of Sept. 6, 1988, Suppression Hearing at 271].

V. THE SEARCH OF CORRAL'S RESIDENCE: THE PROBABLE-CAUSE CONTROVERSY

The legality of the search of Corral's residence, however, presents a separate question. Whether the district court properly suppressed the evidence obtained in the search of 110 Northstar Drive depends on whether the search warrant was supported by probable cause as required by the fourth amendment, or alternatively, whether the search was conducted by officers who in good faith believed that the warrant was valid under the fourth amendment. In 1813, Chief Justice Marshall defined the doctrine which is central to our decision:

[T]he term "probable cause," according to its usual acceptation, means less than evidence which would justify condemnation.... It imports a seizure made under circumstances which warrant suspicion.

Locke v. United States, 11 U.S. (7 Cranch) 339, 347, 3 L.Ed. 364 (1813).

Nearly two hundred years later, the doctrine continues to spark judicial debate. In Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76...