U.S. v. Legault

• Decision Date: 08 July 2004
• Docket Number: No. CRIM.03-10251-RGS.,CRIM.03-10251-RGS.
• Citation: 323 F.Supp.2d 217
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. Jonathan LEGAULT and William Mondello
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

323 F.Supp.2d 217

UNITED STATES of America v. Jonathan LEGAULT and William Mondello

No. CRIM.03-10251-RGS.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

July 8, 2004.

Donald L. Cabell, United States Attorney's Office, Boston, MA, for USA Plaintiff.

Stephen D. Judge, Law Office of Stephen D. Judge, Lynn, MA, Frances L. Robinson, Davis, Robinson & White, LLP, Boston, MA, for Defendants.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND RULINGS OF LAW ON DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO SUPPRESS EVIDENCE

STEARNS, District Judge.

On February 20, 2003, police officers assigned to the Essex County Drug Task Force searched an apartment on the second floor of a home located on Chestnut Street in Lynn, Massachusetts. The search was conducted pursuant to a warrant issued by a clerk-magistrate of the Lynn District Court. The search extended to the basement of the two-family dwelling. In defendant Jonathan Legault's bedroom, officers seized a Glock .40 caliber handgun, drugs, and drug paraphernalia.¹ In defendant William Mondello's bedroom, police seized drugs and a cocaine dilutant. In the basement, police found 358 grams of cocaine, drug paraphernalia, and four rounds of live .380 caliber ammunition. Defendants maintain: (1) that the warrant was facially defective in that it failed to describe the premises with sufficient particularity; (2) that police exceeded the authorized scope of the warrant by expanding the search to include the basement; (3) that the affidavit supporting the search warrant failed to establish probable cause; and (4) that the affiant knowingly or recklessly omitted information bearing on the credibility of the informant on whose information the showing of probable cause was based.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On February 19, 2003, Lynn police arrested Tammy Spillane on several outstanding warrants. Spillane admitted that she was a drug addict and offered to lead police to her suppliers in exchange for a release from custody on personal recognizance. Sgt. Daniel Fee, the eventual affiant, spoke to the Presiding Justice of the Lynn District Court who stated that he would be inclined to a favorable bail determination if Spillane were to cooperate with police.

2. Spillane then stated that she bought her drugs from two men who shared a second floor apartment on Chestnut Street in Lynn. She gave descriptions of the men and was able to supply first names — "John" for the taller and younger of the two (her cocaine supplier), and "Billy" for the shorter and older (her pill supplier). Spillane admitted to making drug purchases at the apartment on dozens of occasions over the past eighteen months. She also said that while purchasing two "eight balls" of cocaine and ten vicodin tablets with her boyfriend, Mack Peters, at the apartment the night before, "John" had shown Peters a handgun that he might be willing to hire out.

3. Spillane was then driven by two Task Force officers in an unmarked vehicle to Chestnut Street where she pointed out a two-family dwelling at number 280. By chance, the defendant John Legault was leaving the residence when the officers and Spillane arrived. The officers were able to get a good look at "John" as he drove by their vehicle. Spillane also pointed out an empty cookware carton in the curbside trash which, according to Spillane, had contained a cookware set that she had given the defendants the night before as a payment in kind for drugs. Sgt. Fee subsequently confirmed that a John Legault, who had an extensive record of arrests and convictions, including for drug and firearms offenses, lived in the second floor apartment at 280 Chestnut Street. He also located a police photo of Legault. Sgt. Fee observed that Legault matched Spillane's description. The two Task Force officers identified the photo of Legault as the "John" pointed out to them by Spillane.

4. Sgt. Fee then applied to a clerk-magistrate of the Lynn District Court for a search warrant. In his supporting affidavit, Sgt. Fee related Spillane's history of purchasing drugs from the defendants and the details of the purchase on February 18, 2003, when Spillane claimed to have seen the handgun. Sgt. Fee also described the field trip that Spillane had taken with Task Force officers to Chestnut Street, the fortuitous sightings of "John" and the discarded cookware box, the subsequent identification of John Legault, and the verification of his address and criminal record. The affidavit did not reveal any details about Spillane's own lengthy criminal record, the fact that she was then in custody, or that the Presiding Justice had promised leniency as a reward for her cooperation.

5. Sgt. Fee asked for and received a search warrant for the second floor apartment at 280 Chestnut Street with the authority to seize illegal drugs, drug paraphernalia, drug-related books, currency and papers, and any illegal firearms. The warrant did not authorize police to make a "no-knock" entry of the apartment.

6. The warrant was executed at 6:45 p.m. on February 20, 2003. Police initially attempted to persuade the defendants to open the apartment door by means of a ruse (claiming that they were investigating a "hang-up" 911 call). When the defendants responded with a sarcastic comment, the officers announced that they had a search warrant. Defendants responded with a profanity. After the officers heard running footsteps from inside the apartment, they used a battering ram to force entry.

7. Inside the apartment, police observed seven persons congregated in the living room. The apartment was equipped with an exterior video surveillance system, which monitored the apartment door and the back hallway. Legault emerged from the bathroom where he had just flushed the toilet. Mondello ran to his bedroom with police in pursuit and attempted unsuccessfully to lock himself behind the door.

8. After securing the occupants, police began the search. In Legault's bedroom, officers found a loaded Glock .40 caliber handgun hidden beneath a mattress together with a plastic bag containing 252 grams of marijuana. They also found sixteen methandrostenolone tablets, a quantity of psilocybin mushrooms, and four bottles containing anabolic steroids. Officers also seized a small amount of cocaine from Legault's person.

9. In Mondello's bedroom, the officers seized six plastic bags containing 455 dihydrocodeinone/acetaminophen tablets, a plastic bag containing approximately four grams of marijuana, 13 oxycodone tablets, and a plastic bag containing seven grams of sodium bicarbonate.

10. Officers then proceeded to the unlocked basement door of the dwelling. On the landing of the basement stairs they found two cardboard boxes. Among the contents of the boxes were 358 grams of cocaine, a gallon can of acetone, a coffee grinder, assorted other drug paraphernalia, a plastic bag containing 292 grams of inositol, and another containing four live rounds of .380 caliber ammunition.

11. The two-family dwelling in which the apartment is located is jointly owned by Legault's mother and sister. The first floor apartment is occupied by Katherine Travers and two of her three children. Travers was the common-law wife of Legault's deceased brother.

DISCUSSION AND RULINGS OF LAW

The General Considerations

As the challenged search was conducted pursuant to a warrant, the burden falls to the defendants to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the search was unlawful.² See United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 177-178 n. 14, 94 S.Ct. 988, 39 L.Ed.2d 242 (1974). In the law of search and seizure there is a strong preference for the "informed and deliberate determinations of magistrates." United States v. Lefkowitz, 285 U.S. 452, 464, 52 S.Ct. 420, 76 L.Ed. 877 (1932). In recognition of this preference, courts reviewing warrants "will accept evidence of a less `judicially competent or persuasive character than would have justified an officer in acting on his own without a warrant.'" Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 111, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964). Warrants are not to be subjected to niggling scrutiny, but tested in a common-sense and realistic manner. Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238-239, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983); United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 109, 85 S.Ct. 741, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965).

A search warrant may issue on a showing of probable cause — something more than suspicion but also something significantly less than evidence necessary to convict. Henry v. United States, 361 U.S. 98, 100-102, 80 S.Ct. 168, 4 L.Ed.2d 134 (1959). "Articulating precisely what `reasonable suspicion' and `probable cause' mean is not possible." Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 695, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996). Probable cause is concerned with probabilities, "the factual and practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent men, not legal technicians, act." Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 175, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 93 L.Ed. 1879 (1949). When the constitutional validity of a warrant is challenged, the court must determine whether the facts demonstrated by the officer-applicant amounted to a legally sufficient showing of probable cause. See Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 96, 85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964) (probable cause to arrest).

Particularity of Description

The Fourth Amendment requires that a warrant "particularly describe" the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. Groh v. Ramirez, ___ U.S. ___, 124 S.Ct. 1284, 157 L.Ed.2d 1068 (2004). The description must be sufficiently detailed "that the officer with a search warrant can with reasonable effort ascertain and identify the place intended." Steele v. United States, 267 U.S. 498, 503, 45 S.Ct. 414, 69 L.Ed. 757 (1925). Minor errors or honest mistakes in describing a location to be searched do not invalidate a warrant. Maryland v. Garrison, 480 U.S. 79, 87, 107 S.Ct. 1013, 94 L.Ed.2d 72 (1987). Cf. Illinois v. Rodriguez, 497 U.S. 177, 184, 110 S.Ct. 2793, 111 L.Ed.2d 148 (...