U.S. v. Planells-Guerra
| Decision Date | 23 August 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 2:06-CR-00617 PGC.,2:06-CR-00617 PGC. |
| Citation | 509 F.Supp.2d 1000 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Geraldo Antonio PLANELLS-GUERRA, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Utah |
Adam Elggren, Salt Lake City, for Plaintiff.
Lynn Donaldson, Salt Lake City, for Defendant.
Geraldo Planells-Guerra — charged with possessing at least 500 grams of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute — filed a motion to suppress the evidence against him. Specifically, he sought to suppress all evidence police officers seized from his car, including any evidence of controlled substances or drug trafficking materials. Mr. Planells-Guerra argued the court should suppress the evidence because police officers arrested him in violation of state law and because no exception to the exclusionary rule applied.
Mr. Planells-Guerra's claims are without merit for three reasons. First, the officers validly arrested Mr. Planells-Guerra under Utah law, and his arrest complied with the Fourth Amendment. In Utah, a police officer can make a warrantless arrest for the public offense of driving with a suspended license if the crime is committed or attempted "in the presence" of the officer. Here, the officer arrested Mr. Planells-Guerra upon discovering Mr. Planells-Guerra's driver's license was suspended, observing him exit the driver's side of the car, and hearing him and two credible witnesses state that Mr. Planells-Guerra had been in the process of driving. Also, because either the witnesses' statements or the officer's own observations would have led a reasonable person in the officer's position to believe that Mr. Planells-Guerra was driving with a suspended license the officer had probable cause for the arrest, as well.
Further, even an invalid arrest under state law would not mandate exclusion of the evidence because the federal exclusionary rule does not apply to state law violations — its application is governed by federal constitutional principles. In this case, the officer had probable cause upon learning that Mr. Planells-Guerra's driver's license was suspended. And none of the evidence suggests that the arrest was otherwise unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment or any other constitutional provision.
Finally, even if the exclusionary rule applied to state law violations, the "good-faith" exception would bar application of the rule in this case. The good-faith exception applies to both warrantless searches and to objectively reasonable police officer mistakes of law. Here, any mistake of law and reliance thereon by the officer was objectively reasonable because the ongoing nature of the crime supported a reasonable belief that the "in presence" requirement was satisfied. At the same time, the officer could reasonably believe the arrest was valid based upon the existence of probable cause alone.
For these reasons, the court therefore denies Mr. Planells-Guerra's motion to reconsider his motion to suppress.
Around 3:45 a.m. on August 26, 2006, Denise Nelson called 9-1-1. Ms. Nelson was a passenger in a car driven by her friend, Sarah Cunningham, traveling from the Grand Canyon. Ms. Nelson, frightened, told the dispatcher at the Grand County Sheriffs Office that a blue sedan had been following her and her friend while driving on Highway 191 from Monticello, Utah, to Moab, Utah. The driver of the blue sedan had followed them for a while, closely at times, even declining to pass Ms. Cunningham's vehicle when the road allowed for it. At one point, the following sedan flashed its lights at Ms. Cunningham's car. Mr. Planells-Guerra was later identified as the driver of this blue sedan.
On reaching Moab, Ms. Cunningham pulled immediately into a Shell gas station. Mr. Planells-Guerra pulled in also. Because of this, the 9-1-1 dispatcher instructed Ms. Nelson to leave the Shell station and drive further into town. Following the dispatcher's instructions, Ms. Cunningham drove north, stopping at a Maverick gas station. Ms. Cunningham pulled into a parking stall facing the convenience store associated with the gas station. Mr. Planells-Guerra pulled his blue sedan up to the gas pump behind Ms. Cunningham's car. Within two minutes police officers arrived. The officers arrived in time to see Mr. Planells-Guerra step out of the driver's side door of his car. As Mr. Planells-Guerra began walking toward the convenience store, Tom Nixon, a Moab City Police Officer, confronted him.
Officer Nixon asked Mr. Planells-Guerra to stop to talk to him. Officer Nixon had seen only Mr. Planells-Guerra in the car when he pulled up, and he soon confirmed Mr. Planells-Guerra was the only person in the car when it was following Ms. Cunningham. Ms. Cunningham identified Mr. Planells-Guerra as the man who had followed her and the sole occupant of the car, and Mr. Planells-Guerra admitted to being alone in the car. With the help of a Spanish-speaking officer, Laurencia Boucher, Officer Nixon inquired into why Mr. Planells-Guerra had followed Ms. Cunningham and Ms. Nelson. Mr. Planells-Guerra explained he was heading in the same direction as the women and just happened to make the same stops at the same gas stations.
In response to questions, Mr. Planells-Guerra explained that he had purchased his sedan a week or so earlier from Hilare Teater. Later, though, Mr. Planells-Guerra explained that he had sold the car to Hilare Teater in 2005, not that he had bought it. The police determined his statements about the ownership of the car were generally inconsistent. The sedan bore Nebraska license plates. When the officers questioned Mr. Planells-Guerra about his travel plans, Mr. Planells-Guerra's explanation changed at least three times. For instance, he indicated he was headed from Phoenix to Nebraska to work out a problem with the registration of his car, but he also referred to visiting a sick brother. Officer Nixon asked for Mr. Planells-Guerra's identification. Mr. Planells-Guerra produced an Arizona driver's license, which was reported as suspended when Officer Nixon checked its status.
Officer Nixon arrested Mr. Planells-Guerra for driving with a suspended license, and placed him in his patrol vehicle. Officers Nixon and Boucher then began to search Mr. Planells-Guerra's sedan incident to Mr. Planells-Guerra's arrest, and to conduct an inventory of the contents before it was towed. Among other things, in their search, the officers found an oblong tin box under the passenger seat containing about fourteen grams of whitish powder. This powder appeared to be illegal drugs. In addition, the officers found about fifty ears of moldy corn scattered freely in the trunk of the car. Officer Nixon believed the corn — which had a strong, pungent odor — to have been placed there to mask the odor of methamphetamine. When tapping on the gas tank, Officer Nixon heard a sound inconsistent with the sounds he normally heard when tapping on gas tanks. He thought it may be indicative of a hidden compartment. The officers also found that Mr. Planells-Guerra had no extra clothes with him other than one pair of underwear and one pair of socks. The officers noted that the car's gas gauge showed the tank to be one-half full.
Ultimately, the officers booked Mr. Planells-Guerra into the Ground County Jail on charges of driving with a suspended license and possession of methamphetamine. Mr. Planells-Guerra bailed out of jail in about forty-eight hours. His bail money consisted of $10,405 in cash — one $5 bill and the rest, $100 bills. At the time of Mr. Planells-Guerra's arrest, officers arranged for Mr. Planells-Guerra's car to be towed and impounded by CJ's Towing. Later, in the impound lot, a drug-sniffing dog targeted the passenger door of Mr. Planells-Guerra's car.
Based on the evidence they had compiled, the police officers applied for a search warrant. Judge Mary Manley, a judge in Utah's Seventh Judicial District, signed the search warrant on August 28, 2006, authorizing law enforcement officers to search Mr. Planells-Guerra's car. During a search conducted pursuant to this warrant, police officers found more than five pounds of methamphetamine in the dashboard of the car. The methamphetamine had been packed in what appeared to be ground-up corn, and had been wrapped tightly in plastic. Mr. Planells-Guerra was ultimately charged with possessing at least 500 grams of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.
On October 27, 2006, Mr. Planells-Guerra filed a motion to suppress the evidence against him. The court conducted a suppression hearing on December 19, 2006, and denied Mr. Planells-Guerra's motion to suppress. Mr. Planells-Guerra later filed a motion to reconsider the court's denial of his motion to suppress — this is the motion at issue in this order.
Mr. Planells-Guerra specifically seeks to suppress the evidence seized from his vehicle as a result of the original traffic stop, as well as the evidence seized pursuant to the search warrant. Mr. Planells-Guerra argues that any evidence obtained after Officer Nixon stopped him was tainted because it was obtained in violation of Mr. Planells-Guerra's Fourth Amendment right to be free from illegal detentions and searches. Basically, Mr. Planells-Guerra argues Officer Nixon possessed no reasonable suspicion to continue the stop beyond his check of Mr. Planells-Guerra's identification and Mr. Planells-Guerra's explanation for his behavior. Mr. Planells-Guerra also argues the evidence should be suppressed pursuant to the exclusionary rule because Mr. Planells-Guerra's arrest was unlawful. He alleges that the crime of driving with a suspended license was not committed "in the presence" of the police officer as required by Utah law, so the arrest was invalid under Utah law and the evidence must be suppressed.
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