U.S. v. Hughes

• Decision Date: 07 October 1991
• Docket Number: No. 90-5323,90-5323
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Walter Leslie HUGHES, a/k/a Walter Leslie Richardson, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1125

940 F.2d 1125

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Walter Leslie HUGHES, a/k/a Walter Leslie Richardson, Appellant.

No. 90-5323.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Feb. 13, 1991.

Decided July 23, 1991.

Certiorari Denied Oct. 7, 1991.

See 112 S.Ct. 267.

Paul Engh, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellant.

Jon M. Hopeman, argued (Jerome G. Arnold, Jon M. Hopeman and Denise Reilly, on brief), Minneapolis, Minn., for appellee.

Before FAGG, Circuit Judge, HEANEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and BEAM, Circuit Judge.

FAGG, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted Walter Leslie Hughes of two counts of aiding and abetting the distribution of cocaine, two counts of possession with the intent to distribute cocaine, two counts of distribution of cocaine, and one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The district court sentenced Hughes to concurrent terms of ten years imprisonment on each of these counts. Hughes also was convicted on one count of possession of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime and was sentenced to a term of five years to run consecutively with his other sentences.

Hughes contends the district court committed error in denying his motion to suppress approximately seven ounces of cocaine used to support one possession count and the gun used to support the firearm count. Officers seized these items during a search of a residence conducted with a valid search warrant issued for the purpose of locating stolen property. After the officers found all the property named in the warrant except a necklace, they found the gun under a bed and the cocaine in the pocket of a man's coat. Hughes argues the officers' seizure of the gun and cocaine violated the Fourth Amendment because the search exceeded the objective of the warrant, which did not name these items.

We conclude the gun and cocaine were properly seized under the plain view doctrine. This doctrine allows a police officer to seize evidence without a warrant when (1) "the officer did not violate the Fourth Amendment in arriving at the place from which the evidence could be plainly viewed," (2) the object's incriminating character is immediately apparent, and (3) the officer has "a lawful right of access to the object itself." Horton v. California, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 2301, 2308, 110 L.Ed.2d 112 (1990); see also United States v. Wayne, 903 F.2d 1188, 1195-96 (8th Cir.1990) (pre-Horton case). The discovery of evidence in plain view need not be inadvertent. Horton, 110 S.Ct. at 2304, 2308 (eliminating inadvertence requirement of plurality in Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971)).

We now turn to the plain view analysis. First, the officers did not violate the Fourth Amendment by looking in the places the gun and cocaine were found. The officers gained entry to the residence under a properly issued warrant, and although the gun and cocaine were hidden, the officers had a right to look where they discovered this evidence. United States v. Johnson, 707 F.2d 317, 322 (8th Cir.1983). A lawful search extends to all areas and containers in which the object of the search may be found. United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 820-21, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 2170-71, 72 L.Ed.2d 572 (1982); United States v. Johnson, 709 F.2d 515, 516 (8th Cir.1983) (per curiam). Here, the officers found the gun under a bed and the cocaine in a coat pocket. The necklace could have been concealed in these places. Contrary to Hughes's assertion, his wife's disclosure of the necklace's location did not reduce the otherwise permissible scope of the officers' search. The district court's finding that Hughes's wife did not make the statement is not clearly erroneous. Even if Hughes's wife did tell the officers the necklace was in the jewelry box, the officers' search was consistent with the ...