U.S. v. Martinez

• Decision Date: 13 June 1985
• Docket Number: No. 84-1135,84-1135
• Citation: 764 F.2d 744
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gustavo Adolfo MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 744

764 F.2d 744

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gustavo Adolfo MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 84-1135.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

June 13, 1985.

Elliot D. Lobel of Segal, Moran & McMahon, Boston, Mass., on brief, for defendant-appellant.

William S. Price, U.S. Atty., and Frank Michael Ringer, Asst. U.S. Atty., Oklahoma City, Okl., on brief, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before LOGAN, SETH and SEYMOUR, Circuit Judges.

LOGAN, Circuit Judge.

After examining the briefs and the appellate record, this three-judge panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not be of material assistance in the determination of this appeal. See Fed.R.App.P. 34(a); Tenth Cir.R. 10(e). The cause is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.

Defendant Gustavo Adolfo Martinez entered a conditional guilty plea to one count of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, a violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a)(1), expressly reserving the right under Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(a)(2) to contest on appeal the disposition of his evidentiary motions. On appeal he challenges the district court's refusal to suppress evidence obtained in a search of defendant's luggage pursuant to a search warrant, and seeks to suppress self-incriminating statements given to authorities after the search revealed that he was carrying contraband. We must determine whether the district court properly applied the "totality of the circumstances" analysis articulated in Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983), applicable to probable cause determinations necessary to obtain a warrant.

I

The parties do not dispute the material facts. On November 16, 1983, the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, received an anonymous telephone call, the information from which formed the initial basis for the search warrant. The caller, who had a Spanish accent, reported that Gustavo Adolfo Martinez, a 23 year-old Venezuelan male, whose birthdate was October 20, was arriving in Oklahoma City at approximately 8:00 p.m. on an Eastern Airline flight from Miami, Florida, having originated his trip in Venezuela. The caller informed the FBI authorities that Martinez would be carrying a kilo of cocaine that would probably be found in his luggage, that the luggage would be brown or blue in color, and that the cocaine would be contained in a yellow bag.

The caller described Martinez as a Venezuelan with olive complexion, over 160 centimeters tall, with black eyes. Martinez' address was given as 1515 N.W. 30th, Apt. 22, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The caller stated that Martinez owned four vehicles, including a Toyota, a Pinto, an LTD, and an additional unknown vehicle. The caller also stated that Martinez had earlier returned from Venezuela approximately one to two months ago, bringing with him another kilo of cocaine. Finally, the caller said that the purpose of this message was a concern over Venezuelan countrymen bringing cocaine into the United States and selling it to individuals who could be harmed as a result of its use.

After this call the FBI sought to corroborate the specific details about the suspected drug courier. Its investigation revealed that a Gustavo Martinez in fact had been booked on a November 16, 1983, flight from Caracas, Venezuela, to Miami, Florida, on a foreign airline. The flight booking also contained a reservation for Eastern Airlines flight # 1658, leaving Miami for Oklahoma City, with a 12:00 noon departure time and scheduled to arrive in Oklahoma City at 8:35 p.m. The FBI further confirmed that Martinez owned a 1979 Ford LTD sedan with a valid license plate registered in the name of Gustavo or Amaloha Martinez, both of whom lived at 1515 N.W. 30th, but at Apartment 216, not 22, as reported.

After flight # 1658 from Miami via Dallas arrived in Oklahoma City, FBI agents observed a man matching the physical description carrying a slender brown carry-on case with a shoulder strap. They saw him pick up a blue, soft vinyl suitcase bearing an identification tag with the name Martinez from the baggage claim area. On the basis of this information, Agent Arbour prepared an affidavit detailing these facts and presented it to a federal magistrate for the purpose of obtaining a search warrant to search Martinez' bags. While other agents detained Martinez, Agent Arbour obtained the search warrant. The subsequent search revealed that Martinez was carrying approximately two pounds of cocaine. Martinez then waived his Miranda rights and gave an oral statement concerning his involvement in smuggling cocaine.

II

On this appeal Martinez maintains that the district court misapplied the Illinois v. Gates "totality of circumstances" standard by accepting the conclusions of an anonymous informant without a basis for crediting the anonymous accusations. Martinez contends that the district court misread the Gates decision by not according sufficient weight to the honesty or credibility of the informant and the reliability of the way in which the informant acquired his information. We affirm the district court's decision not to suppress the evidence obtained pursuant to the warrant.

In Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983), the Supreme Court considered what probable cause standard must be met to issue a search warrant based on information obtained from an anonymous informant. In Gates, the Court rejected the application of the two-pronged test derived from the Court's decisions in Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964), and Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969), and ruled that a magistrate should consider the totality of the circumstances when determining whether probable cause exists to issue a search warrant. ¹ 462 U.S. at 238, 103 S.Ct. at 2332. The Court summarized the probable cause determination in the following way:

"The task of the issuing magistrate is simply to make a practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him, including the 'veracity' and 'basis of knowledge' of persons supplying hearsay information, there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place."

Id.

III

We begin our analysis recognizing that a magistrate's "determination of probable cause should be paid great deference by reviewing courts." Gates, 462 U.S. at 236, 103 S.Ct. at 2331 (quoting Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 419, 89 S.Ct. 584, 591, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969) ). Consequently, our duty as a reviewing court "is simply to ensure that the magistrate had a 'substantial basis for ... conclud[ing]' that probable cause existed." Id. at 238-39, 103 S.Ct. at 2332 (quoting Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 271, 80 S.Ct. 725, 736, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1960) ). Mindful of our position, we hold that the affidavit submitted by Agent Arbour to the magistrate, when viewed in light of the totality of circumstances, was supported by sufficient reliable facts to provide probable cause to issue a search warrant.

We agree with the district court that these facts would not have supported a probable cause finding under the two-pronged Aguilar-Spinelli test. The information derived from the anonymous tip in Gates also would have failed the old test. 462 U.S. at 227, 103 S.Ct. at 2326. In this...