U.S. v. Parker

• Decision Date: 28 June 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-5303.,03-5303.
• Citation: 373 F.3d 770
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. David Jeremy PARKER; Barbara Jean Sutton; and Peter Jansen Sutton, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 770

373 F.3d 770

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. David Jeremy PARKER; Barbara Jean Sutton; and Peter Jansen Sutton, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 03-5303.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued April 22, 2004.

Decided and Filed June 28, 2004.

Terry M. Cushing (briefed), United States Attorney, Jo E. Lawless (argued and briefed), United States Attorney's Office, Louisville, KY, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Scott T. Wendelsdorf, Western Kentucky Federal Community Defender, Inc., Gregory W. Butrum (argued and briefed), Gregory Ward Butrum, PLLC, Louisville, KY, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before MERRITT and MOORE, Circuit

Judges; DUGGAN, District Judge.^*

OPINION

DUGGAN, District Judge.

In this interlocutory appeal, the government challenges the district court's decision to suppress evidence seized at the residence of Barbara Jean Sutton and Peter Jansen Sutton (collectively the "Suttons") pursuant to two search warrants. The district court concluded that the trial commissioner who issued the search warrants was not neutral and detached because she also served as an administrative assistant at the county jail. The court therefore held that the search warrants were invalid. The district court additionally ruled that the exception to the exclusionary rule set forth in United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984), is inapplicable under these circumstances. The government filed this appeal, challenging the district court's decision. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

I. Standard of Review

This court reviews the district court's findings of fact in a suppression hearing under the clearly erroneous standard, while the district court's conclusions of law are reviewed de novo. United States v. Pennington, 328 F.3d 215, 216-17 (6th Cir.2003)(citing United States v. Avery, 137 F.3d 343, 348 (6th Cir.1997)).

II. Factual Background

On July 21 and 24, 2001, law enforcement officers in Ohio County, Kentucky, seized seventy-one firearms, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, explosive materials, and allegedly stolen personal property pursuant to two search warrants executed for the Suttons' residence. Ohio County Trial Commissioner Michelle Madison ("Madison") signed both warrants.¹ Judge Renona C. Browning ("Judge Browning"), District Judge for Kentucky's 38th Judicial District, swore in Madison as a trial commissioner for Ohio County several weeks earlier, on July 2, 2001.² Madison was married to Judge Browning's brother, who died on September 2, 2000.

On June 25, 2001, Judge Browning had written Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert, requesting the appointment of a temporary trial commissioner for Ohio County based on a district judge vacancy. In her letter, Judge Browning advised Chief Justice Lambert that she had been unable to find an attorney in the county interested in this responsibility but that Madison agreed to take the position if it became available. Judge Browning informed Chief Justice Lambert that Madison was an employee of the Ohio County Detention Center and that her "duties at the jail are bookkeeping, finance officer, purchasing agent and general lieutenant." On June 29, 2001, Chief Justice Lambert signed an order approving the appointment of a temporary trial commissioner for Ohio County pursuant to Kentucky Supreme Court Rule 5.010 and Section 113(5) of the Kentucky Constitution; although he did not specifically approve the appointment of Madison.

Although there was some indication in the record that Madison's title at the detention center was "Chief Lieutenant Deputy Jailer," the district court concluded that her duties were similar to those of an administrative assistant. The court further found that Madison served at the pleasure of a law enforcement agent, as the Ohio County Jailer hired and could fire her. The court determined that Madison's job responsibilities included the following: handling the purchase orders for all jail bills; assisting the jailer with the yearly budget; keeping track of expenditures for the jail; billing surrounding counties for housing their inmates; maintaining the records of the jail's commissary account; handling the jailer's correspondence; and purchasing jail supplies. Madison additionally handled inmates' work release requests by obtaining information from the prisoners and completing work release forms. She assisted inmates with their child support obligations, helped inmates obtain legal representation, and facilitated inmates' drug rehabilitation placements. Unlike the county's deputy jailers, Madison did not carry a weapon; nor did she wear a badge or uniform. She never arrested anyone, did not participate in the ongoing training required of deputy jailers, and was not on the regular rotation of duties for monitoring prisoners.

Based on the evidence seized at the Suttons' residence, a federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment against the Defendants on September 4, 2002.

III. Applicable Law and Analysis

It is a long established requirement that, to be valid under the Fourth Amendment, a search warrant must be issued by a neutral and detached magistrate. Shadwick v. City of Tampa, 407 U.S. 345, 350, 92 S.Ct. 2119, 2123, 32 L.Ed.2d 783 (1972)(citing Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 14, 68 S.Ct. 367, 369, 92 L.Ed. 436 (1948)). The issue before the Supreme Court in Shadwick was whether municipal court clerks qualified as neutral and detached magistrates. Concluding that the clerks satisfied this requirement, the Court stated:

Whatever else neutrality and detachment might entail, it is clear that they require severance and disengagement from activities of law enforcement. There has been no showing whatever here of partiality, or affiliation of these clerks with prosecutors or police. The record shows no connection with any law enforcement activity or authority which would distort the independent judgment the Fourth Amendment requires ... The municipal clerk is assigned not to the police or prosecutor but to the municipal court judge for whom he does much of his work. In this sense, he may well be termed a `judicial officer.'

Id. at 350-51, 92 S.Ct. at 2123.

Following Shadwick, several courts have upheld search warrants issued by individuals connected to the judiciary. See, e.g., United States v. Mitro, 880 F.2d 1480 (1st Cir.1989)(approving state warrant issued by assistant district court clerk); United States v. Martinez-Zayas, 857 F.2d 122 (3d Cir.1988)(upholding warrant issued by municipal court bail commissioner); United States v. Comstock, 805 F.2d 1194 (5th Cir.1986)(upholding warrant issued by justice of the peace). Similarly, this court upheld a search warrant issued by a judicial commissioner in Shelby County, Tennessee, despite the defendant's claim that the county's judicial commissioners could not be considered neutral and detached because they were appointed by a local legislative authority which also set the terms of their office and compensation. United States v. Pennington, 328 F.3d 215 (6th Cir.2003). Quoting from Shadwick, the Pennington court reasoned that the commissioners' connection to the legislature alone, did not violate the Fourth Amendment's neutral and detached requirement:

"... While a statutorily specified term of office and appointment by someone other than `an executive authority' might be desirable, the absence of such features is hardly disqualifying. Judges themselves take office under differing circumstances. Some are appointed, but many are elected by legislative bodies or by the people. Many enjoy but limited terms and are subject to re-appointment or re-election. Most depend for their salary level upon the legislative branch. We will not elevate requirements for the independence of a municipal clerk to a level higher than that prevailing with respect to many judges."

Id. at 218 (quoting Shadwick, 407 U.S. at 351, 92 S.Ct. at 2123). As the Shadwick Court stated further, "The clerk's neutrality has not been impeached: he is removed from prosecutor or police and works within the judicial branch subject to the supervision of the municipal court judge." Shadwick, 407 U.S. at 351, 92 S.Ct. at 2123.

The government relies on Pennington, as well as this court's unpublished opinion in United States v. King, 1991 WL 278983 (6th Cir. December 27, 1991), to argue that Madison's position at the county jail did not, by itself, contravene her neutrality and detachment as a trial commissioner. In King, the defendant moved to suppress evidence seized from his home pursuant to a search warrant, claiming that the warrant was invalid because the issuing judicial commissioner was married to a deputy sheriff who worked as a corrections officer at the county jail and because the couple occasionally socialized with other deputies and their spouses.³ Id., 951 F.2d 350, 1991 WL 278983, *1. We upheld the warrant, concluding that the judicial commissioner's social life was insufficient to demonstrate an engagement with law enforcement that would render her lacking in neutrality and detachment.

In this case, the district court concluded that Madison was engaged in law enforcement. This court agrees and therefore finds King and Pennington distinguishable. Unlike the judicial commissioner in King, Madison's connection to law enforcement was not limited to her social interactions or relationships with law enforcement officials. Unlike the judicial commissioner in Pennington, Madison's connection to the executive branch extended beyond her appointment by an executive official.

The district court found that Madison was employed by and worked for a law enforcement agency. Not only was she hired by the Jailer, a law enforcement official, but the Jailer served as her immediate and only supervisor. While Madison's daily duties may have been different than those of a deputy jailer, her work was performed at and for the Ohio County j...