U.S. v. Crapser

• Decision Date: 10 January 2007
• Docket Number: No. 05-30456.,05-30456.
• Citation: 472 F.3d 1141
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gunner Lawson CRAPSER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

472 F.3d 1141

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gunner Lawson CRAPSER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 05-30456.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued July 26, 2006.

Resubmitted January 3, 2007.

Filed January 10, 2007.

Nancy Bergeson, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Portland, OR, for the defendant-appellant.

Frank Noonan, Assistant United States Attorney, Portland, OR, for the plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon Anna J. Brown, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CR-03-00487-BR.

Before: GOODWIN, REINHARDT, and GRABER, Circuit Judges.

GRABER, Circuit Judge:

Defendant Gunner Lawson Crapser appeals his conviction, upon a guilty plea, of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. We affirm because the initial encounter between Defendant and the police was consensual or, alternatively, was supported by reasonable suspicion, and because his consent to search was voluntary.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The district court made extensive findings of fact, none of which is clearly erroneous and all of which are supported by evidence in the record. We therefore paraphrase the court's findings here.

In July 2003, Multnomah County Sheriff's Deputy Todd Shanks stopped a vehicle driven by William Barrett. In the course of the stop, he found a pressure-cooker in the trunk. Shanks suspected that the pressure-cooker had been used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Barrett told Deputy Shanks that the pressure-cooker belonged to "Gunner Crapser," who was staying at an EconoLodge Motel in Gresham, Oregon, in a room registered to a white, female dancer named Summer Twilligear.

Shanks also learned that there was an outstanding arrest warrant for someone who used the name "Gunner Crapser." The warrant information, however, was flagged to warn officers not to confuse the wanted person, whose true name was James Stover, with anyone else who used the name "Gunner Crapser."

Shanks decided to go to the motel for two reasons. First, he intended to investigate whether the "Gunner Crapser" whom Barrett had described was the same man who was wanted. Second, Shanks intended to try to "knock and talk" his way into obtaining consent to search the room where Crapser was staying so as to look for evidence of methamphetamine activity. Shanks, who was in uniform and driving a marked patrol vehicle, asked for other officers to assist him at the motel. In the end, four uniformed officers and one plain-clothes officer were involved in the contact that led to Defendant's arrest.

The officers confirmed with the motel manager that Summer Twilligear rented Room 114. They then went to Room 114. Adjacent to an eight-foot-by-five-foot exterior concrete entryway is a five-foot-wide sidewalk that runs alongside the motel rooms. Next to the sidewalk is the parking area for motel guests. Although a sign in the parking lot warns that parking is reserved for motel guests, the parking lot and the walkways leading to the doors of the motel rooms are open to public view and are accessible by anyone in the parking area.

When the officers arrived at about 11 a.m. on the day in question, they parked where they were not immediately visible from Room 114. Sergeant Edward Walls, who was in uniform, took a precautionary position at the rear of Room 114. There are no windows or doors on that side of the structure, so his presence was not obvious to the occupants of Room 114. Deputies Marc Galloway and Chad Phifer, who also were in uniform, and Deputy Scott Timms, who was in plain clothes, accompanied Shanks when he knocked on the door to Room 114. All of the uniformed officers had visible sidearms, and the plain-clothes officer had a concealed weapon. The police firearms, however, remained holstered at all times.

In response to Shanks' knock on the door of Room 114, a white woman, later identified as Twilligear, pulled back the curtains from inside the room and made eye contact with Shanks. Shanks asked Twilligear if she would open the door so that he could speak with her. She nodded in the affirmative and closed the curtains. About two minutes passed before she opened the door. While the officers waited, they heard what sounded like people moving things around inside the room.

Nonetheless, the officers remained outside. When the door opened, Twilligear and Defendant came out and closed the door behind them. This was the officers' first contact with Defendant. Shanks asked Galloway and Phifer to speak with Defendant to determine whether he was the person identified in the arrest warrant. The three of them moved a short distance away. In the meantime, Shanks and Timms spoke with Twilligear. The two groups stood 10 to 25 feet from each other on the sidewalk near the parking area. During this initial part of the contact, the officers did not block or physically keep Defendant or Twilligear from walking away or returning to their room, nor did the officers affirmatively assert authority over the movements of Defendant or Twilligear.

Shanks asked Twilligear for identification. After obtaining her name and date of birth, he ran a records check and determined she was "clear." Shanks explained to Twilligear why the police had come to her motel room and asked who was renting the room. Twilligear told Shanks that she had rented the room and that Defendant had been there the night before. Twilligear said that other people also had been in and out of the room. Although Twilligear admitted she used methamphetamine, she denied that she was "cooking" any drugs and denied that there were any drug chemicals in the room. At this point, Shanks left Twilligear and Timms to join Galloway, Phifer, and Defendant while Timms continued to speak with Twilligear in the hope of obtaining her consent to search the room.

While Galloway and Phifer were speaking with Defendant about the warrant, they noticed that Defendant was very nervous and that his hands were shaking. Defendant's nervous demeanor contrasted sharply with his calm demeanor during a 20-minute traffic stop by these same officers about a week earlier. Defendant's behavior raised Galloway's suspicions. When Shanks joined the group a bit later, he, too, noticed that Defendant was very nervous; his hands were trembling and an artery was visibly pulsating in his neck.

Defendant explained to the officers that, in the past, he had been mistaken for another person who used the name "Gunner Crapser" and that there were no warrants outstanding for his arrest. Phifer left to run a computer check in his patrol vehicle. While Phifer was away and Defendant was talking with Galloway, Galloway asked Defendant something about drugs.

Defendant unexpectedly pulled a syringe from his right back pocket and said, "This is all I have on me." The syringe was capped and looked like the kind of syringe used by intravenous drug users. The cylinder contained a clear liquid that Galloway suspected was methamphetamine.

After Phifer confirmed that Defendant's physical characteristics did not match those of the wanted person, he returned from his patrol car and told Galloway that Defendant was "clear." But, by this time, Defendant had produced the syringe. Galloway patted him down to ensure that he had nothing on his person, other than the syringe, that could be used as a weapon. Shanks was present during the pat-down, which occurred about five minutes after Defendant emerged from Room 114.

Shanks confirmed with Defendant that he had stayed in Room 114 the previous night and that Twilligear was renting the room. Defendant said he had some personal property in the room. Shanks asked Defendant whether he would consent to a search of his person. Defendant answered "yes." Shanks then searched Defendant's pockets. In the right front pants pocket Shanks discovered a tissue-wrapped roll of three or four syringes and a small baggie containing what appeared to be methamphetamine. Shanks arrested Defendant for possession of a controlled substance, handcuffed him, and gave him the Miranda warnings. Shanks asked Defendant whether he understood his rights. Defendant answered "yes."

Shanks then told Defendant that he believed there might be a methamphetamine manufacturing operation in Room 114 and asked for Defendant's consent to search the room. At the same time, Timms was asking Twilligear for consent to search the room. Twilligear expressed concern that she not be held accountable for the content of Defendant's bags and said loudly, in Defendant's direction, that he should "own up" to what he had in the room. Defendant told Shanks that his blue adidas duffel bag contained a 9 mm handgun and a shotgun.

Specifically in response to Shanks' request for consent to search the room, Defendant said that he would consent. Shanks presented Defendant with a written consent form and read it, verbatim, to Defendant. Shanks also ascertained that Defendant had completed nine years of schooling. Defendant told Shanks that he understood the form, and he signed it. The consent form identified the location and gave permission to search the room and the blue adidas duffel bag for evidence of controlled substance and firearms offenses. Twilligear signed a similar form consenting to the search of Room 114. The resulting search turned up the firearms that are the subject of this case.

In October 2003, the grand jury returned a three-count indictment. Defendant filed a motion to suppress, asserting that the officers had violated the Fourth Amendment when they detained him because they did not have a reasonable suspicion to seize him, search him, pat him down, or search his motel room. The district court held an evidentiary hearing and denied the motion. Defendant pleaded guilty to the illegal firearm count in the indictment in exchange for dismissal of the other counts. He...