U.S. v. Maguire

• Decision Date: 03 March 2004
• Docket Number: No. 02-2698.,02-2698.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Lawrence F. MAGUIRE, Defendant, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

359 F.3d 71

UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Lawrence F. MAGUIRE, Defendant, Appellee.

No. 02-2698.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard September 11, 2003.

Decided March 3, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Cynthia A. Young, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Michael J. Sullivan, United States Attorney, were on brief, for appellant.

Albert F. Cullen, Jr., for appellee.

Before TORRUELLA and LIPEZ, Circuit Judges, and William W. SCHWARZER,^* Senior District Judge.

TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Lawrence T. Maguire ("Maguire") was arrested by the Medford Police Department ("MPD") on September 7, 2001. He was indicted on one count of bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). He filed a motion to suppress arguing that his arrest was unlawful. He further argued that, as a result of the unlawful arrest, statements made to the police and physical evidence obtained by them should be suppressed. The district court held an evidentiary hearing on Maguire's motion, which was subsequently granted in part. United States v. Burhoe, Crim. No. 01-10464-RCL (D.Mass. Nov. 27, 2002).¹ The government filed an interlocutory appeal, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3731, arguing that the officers engaged in a valid investigatory stop. We conclude that the district court's decision was in error, and thus, we reverse.

I.

On September 7, 2001, at approximately 10:19 a.m., the MPD radio dispatcher broadcast to all police units information regarding an armed robbery that had occurred at the Citizen's Bank inside the Shaw's Supermarket on Locust Street in Medford, Massachusetts around 10:00 a.m. The dispatcher stated that the robbery had been committed using a knife and that the two male robbers had used a black getaway vehicle with Massachusetts registration number 9936RT. The vehicle had turned left out of a parking lot located on Locust Street and was, according to the police radio report, headed towards Riverside Avenue.

After the initial dispatches were reported over radio broadcast, MPD Officer Sheila Quinn ("Quinn") reported that she was in pursuit of a black car on Riverside Avenue. By this time, the police knew that the car had been stolen. Quinn said over the radio that there were two white males inside the car. The car was reported to have crossed the Fellsway and Middlesex Avenue, gone down Fifth Street and turned left. The vehicle was abandoned in the vicinity of the Osgood School on Fourth Street, and the occupants fled on foot.

Lieutenant Michael Goulding ("Goulding") was on duty at the time of the initial broadcast regarding the armed robbery. He left the station in an unmarked police car accompanied by Detective Robert Scully ("Scully"). They drove towards the reported location of the getaway car. When they arrived at Fourth Street and Middlesex Avenue, they heard over the radio that the suspects had abandoned the car in front of the Osgood School. The suspects were reported to be on foot, and according to the radio broadcast, one suspect was heading towards the Fellsway.

Goulding and Scully, in plain clothes, parked their unmarked car near 112 Second Street. The officers wanted to position themselves along the likely escape route of the suspects. Second Street was empty at the time, as most of the police cruisers were already parked on Fourth Street near the Osgood School. Shortly after parking on Second Street, Goulding saw a white man, later identified as defendant Maguire, emerge from a backyard on Second Street, apparently coming out of a private residential property. Maguire appeared disheveled, unkempt and confused, and he had scratches on his face and hands. He also appeared to be wearing several layers of clothing on what was described as a very warm and sunny day.

The accounts diverge at this point. According to Goulding's account, after stepping out of the vehicle, Goulding and Scully approached Maguire, who continued to walk at a steady pace.² The officers began speaking with Maguire, and Goulding asked Maguire if he was from the area. According to Goulding, Maguire was not responsive and appeared dazed. When asked how he was doing, defendant responded "Huh?" Eventually, Maguire informed the officers that he was from Malden, not Medford, which is approximately half a mile away.³ Goulding testified that, up to this point, neither he nor Scully had restrained Maguire in any way.

Goulding asserts that while speaking to Maguire, someone suddenly yelled "Get your hands up!" MPD Officer Richard Dorrance ("Dorrance") was standing on the other side of Maguire with his gun drawn, yelling at him. Goulding testified that Maguire raised his hands, which revealed a knife protruding from his waistband at the small of his back. Goulding testified that he turned his attention from Dorrance to Maguire after assuring himself that Dorrance was a fellow officer. Maguire raised his hands, which enabled Goulding to see a black-handled object protruding from the waistband of Maguire's pants. Goulding recognized the object as a knife. He then proceeded to grab Maguire's arm, and with Scully's assistance, put Maguire on the ground. Goulding and Scully pulled a large kitchen-style knife out of the back of Maguire's pants and threw it to the side. To determine if Maguire had any other weapons, they grabbed anything that was loose on the suspect, which included a gray shirt, a blue shirt and a towel, which were put to the side. Goulding also tossed aside a white baseball cap that had fallen off Maguire's head. He testified that he did not see the knife until Maguire raised his arms. Goulding did not file a written report of his activities on September 7, 2001.

Officer Dorrance's account differs from Goulding's in some respects. Dorrance was on duty in a marked cruiser when the initial report of the armed robbery came over the police radio. Dorrance followed Quinn as she pursued the suspects in the black car, but he began a separate area search when he heard the suspects had abandoned their car in front of the Osgood School. Dorrance then arrived on Second Street, where he heard the officers speaking to Maguire. According to Dorrance, Maguire was not responsive to the officers' questions, and kept on walking. Dorrance passed them in his cruiser, parked ahead of them and got out of the car.

Dorrance testified that, at that moment, Maguire turned to face the officers and immediately put one hand, and then a second hand, behind his back, lifted his coat and attempted to get something out of his waistband. Dorrance drew his weapon and told Maguire to get on the ground, because he knew from the radio reports that one of the robbery suspects had been armed with a knife, and he was concerned that Maguire might have been reaching for a weapon. Dorrance testified that Maguire ignored his order, but seconds later Goulding and Scully had each grabbed one of Maguire's arms and removed the knife. Finally, Dorrance testified that Maguire was pat-frisked for other weapons.

Scully filed an arrest report, which differs in some respects from both Goulding's and Dorrance's versions of events.⁴ Scully wrote that when he and Goulding approached Maguire, "[h]e appeared to have a black handled item stuffed down the back of his pants." He further stated that he called for Maguire to stop, and eventually Goulding and Scully ordered Maguire to the ground and disarmed him. Dorrance had arrived to assist them, and the suspect was subsequently handcuffed and read his rights. As the district court noted, there was no mention of the conversation between Maguire and Goulding, but Scully mentioned calling for Maguire to stop.⁵ Either Goulding or Scully advised Maguire of his rights and placed him under arrest, and he was taken to the police station by Dorrance.

Maguire moved to suppress the evidence obtained by the police as a result of the stop and search. Maguire also moved to suppress statements made at the time of his arrest and the physical evidence that resulted from the stop and subsequent arrest.⁶ The district court held an evidentiary hearing and heard argument on the motion to suppress. The district court granted the motion to suppress Maguire's statements to the police and the physical evidence found as a result of the stop. It held that Maguire was de facto arrested at the moment Goulding and Scully held him and put him on the ground and that the government had failed to establish probable cause for such an arrest.

II.

We review the district court's factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo. Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996); United States v. Trueber, 238 F.3d 79, 91 (1st Cir.2001). "Determinations of ... reasonable suspicion, relevant to the constitutionality of law enforcement seizures and arrests under the Fourth Amendment, present mixed questions of law and fact which we review de novo." United States v. Young, 105 F.3d 1, 5 (1st Cir.1997)(citing Ornelas, 517 U.S. at 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657).

The district court concluded, based on the facts described above, that Maguire was de facto arrested when Goulding and Scully took hold of him and put him on the ground. The government disagrees, arguing that the officers were engaged in a investigatory stop under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).

Terry held that "a police officer may in appropriate circumstances and in an appropriate manner approach a person for purposes of investigating possibly criminal behavior even though there is no probable cause to make an arrest." Id. at 22, 88 S.Ct. 1868. To withstand scrutiny, an officer "must be able to articulate something more than an inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or `hunch.'" United States v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 7, 109 S.Ct. 1581, 104 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989)(quoting Terry, 392 U.S. at 27, 88 S.Ct. 1868)(internal quotations omitted). In evaluating the validity of a Terry stop, we consider the totality of...