U.S. v. Sparks

• Decision Date: 10 November 2010
• Docket Number: Criminal Action No. 10–10067–WGY.
• Citation: 750 F.Supp.2d 384
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America,v.Craig SPARKS, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

750 F.Supp.2d 384

UNITED STATES of America,

v.Craig SPARKS, Defendant.

Criminal Action No. 10–10067–WGY.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

Nov. 10, 2010.

Albert F. Cullen, Jr., Boston, MA, for Defendant.Robert E. Richardson, Kenneth G. Shine, United States Attorney's Office, Boston, MA, for Plaintiffs.

MEMORANDUM

YOUNG, District Judge.I. Factual BackgroundA. Facts Relating to the Charge of Armed Bank Robbery

On January 4, 2010, at approximately 12:24 p.m., two white males robbed a Bank of America branch(“Bank”) located in Waltham, Massachusetts. Gov't Jan. 22 Aff. ¶ 5. Both robbers wore ski masks, dark-colored hooded sweatshirts, and brandished what appeared to be handguns. Id. The robbers approached tellers, demanded money, and fled with approximately $10,676.00 in U.S. currency. Id. A witness outside the bank observed the robbers enter a red sports utility vehicle and flee the area. Id.

Meanwhile, on this same day, approximately ten minutes earlier (at around 12:15 p.m.) Special Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) initiated surveillance on a black Chrysler which was parked on a public street in Waltham. Id. ¶ 6. The vehicle was registered to the defendant Craig Sparks's mother, but was primarily used by Sparks himself. Id. The vehicle was located through a Global Positioning System (“GPS”) device that had previously been affixed to the external undercarriage of the vehicle.¹ At the time the Agents initiated surveillance, the engine of the vehicle was running but no one was in, or near, the vehicle. Id. The vehicle was parked roughly two blocks away from the Bank. Id.

Approximately ten minutes after surveillance of the Chrysler was initiated, Agents found themselves in the most fortuitous of positions—they observed a red Jeep Cherokee approach at a high rate of speed and pull into a driveway across from the Chrysler. They watched two individuals wearing dark-colored hooded sweatshirts get out of the Jeep, run across the street, enter the Chrysler, and drive off. Id. One of the individuals was carrying a dark-colored bag. Id.

After observing the switch from “getaway car” to “clean car,” and learning of the bank robbery several minutes later, the investigators attempted to follow the Chrysler but lost visual contact shortly after it drove away. Id. ¶ 8. Using the GPS, visual surveillance of the Chrysler was reacquired on northbound Interstate 95. Id. Shortly thereafter, a Massachusetts State Police cruiser initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle with FBI agents directly behind. Id. As the Chrysler entered the breakdown lane the driver slammed on the brakes and drove the vehicle into a ditch alongside Interstate 95. Id. Two white males jumped from the Chrysler and fled into the woods along the Interstate. Id. Special Agents pursued the men but the suspects evaded immediate capture. Id. A number of state, local, and federal law enforcement officers joined the search. Id.

In the snowy woods through which the two men had fled, investigators found $1,381 in United States currency and a backpack containing clothing, including two hooded sweatshirts. Id. ¶ 11. One suspect, identified as Benjamin Michaud, was apprehended sometime after 1:00 p.m. in Lincoln, Massachusetts with $9,284 in United States currency wrapped in money bands from the bank where the robbery had occurred.² Id. ¶ 9.

During a safety sweep of the abandoned Chrysler, two BB guns, which looked like the weapons used in the bank robbery, were located on the floor of the front passenger seat. Id. ¶ 12. After obtaining a search warrant, investigators impounded and thoroughly searched the Chrysler. They found, inter alia, footwear consistent in appearance with those worn by the robbers, a cell phone with the battery removed, a knife, a dagger, two white gloves turned inside out as if they had been worn and removed, a screwdriver, and Sparks's wallet, containing several pieces of his identification. Id. ¶ 12–13.

Investigators also examined information from the GPS device that was affixed to the vehicle. Id. ¶ 14. The GPS data indicated that the Chrysler was in the area of Sparks's apartment on the morning of January 4, 2010; that the Chrysler traveled to Charlestown, Massachusetts and moved around to various locations in Charlestown for approximately 30 minutes; ³ and that the vehicle then traveled to Waltham, ending up on the street where Agents initially observed it. Id.

Based on the above evidence, and more, the defendant Sparks was arrested for the bank robbery on February 16, 2010, in Maine, and transferred to Massachusetts on February 23, 2010.

B. Facts Relating to the Global Positioning System

The GPS device was able to provide information as to its location in “real time” and to record its location as the Chrysler moved from place to place. Gov't Sept. 16 Aff. ¶ 3. It did so by communicating with satellites to get a “fix” on its position and then connecting with a service provider. Id. FBI Agents working the case were able to log onto a website and obtain information as to the location of the GPS device, and thus the vehicle, as it was moving. Id. This information was also stored and accessible for later review. Id.

The GPS device ran on its own battery for power, and drew no power from the Chrysler itself. Id. ¶ 3. The original power supply failed and so, on December 28, 2009, the FBI replaced the battery, and reaffixed the GPS device. Id. The GPS device was attached and reattached without a warrant. Def.'s Mem. 4, n. 1.

At the time the GPS device was first attached to Sparks's vehicle on December 24, 2009, the FBI suspected that Sparks had committed three armed bank robberies in Massachusetts in the preceding three months. Gov't Sept. 16 Aff. ¶ 2. Believing that Sparks would commit further robberies, and having seen Sparks driving the Chrysler, the FBI decided to place the GPS device on this vehicle. Id. The GPS device was affixed between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., eleven days prior to the date of the bank robbery. At oral argument, the government conceded that at the time agents placed the GPS device on the vehicle it was parked in a private open-air parking lot used by the tenants of two, separate, multi-unit residential buildings. Tr. Mot. Suppress 7. Sparks rented an apartment in one of these buildings at the time. The street that the apartment building and parking lot were on was a private street.

II. ANALYSIS

The defendant, Craig Sparks, moved to suppress evidence obtained following the placement of the GPS device on his vehicle.⁴ Sparks argued for application of the exclusionary rule based on violations of his First ⁵ and Fourth Amendment rights.

A. General Fourth Amendment Standard

The Fourth Amendment secures the right of an individual “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” and provides that this right “shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” U.S. Const. amend. IV. Although the Fourth Amendment protects against certain governmental intrusions, it has never been held to provide a generalized right to privacy. See Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 350, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). Instead, constitutional protections attach only when the governmental “search” or “seizure” implicates a constitutionally protected interest.⁶ United States v. Dionisio, 410 U.S. 1, 15, 93 S.Ct. 764, 35 L.Ed.2d 67 (1973). Sparks bears the burden of establishing this protected interest by demonstrating that he maintained a legitimate expectation of privacy in the place searched. United States v. Thornley, 707 F.2d 622, 624 (1st Cir.1983). The modern test for analyzing the expectation question, as articulated in Justice Harlan's concurrence in Katz, is a two-part inquiry: first, whether the defendant has exhibited an actual, subjective, expectation of privacy; and second, whether such subjective expectation is one which society is willing to recognize as objectively reasonable. 389 U.S. at 361, 88 S.Ct. 507 (Harlan, J., concurring).

If the government intrudes upon a reasonable expectation of privacy without a warrant, the invasion is presumptively unconstitutional. Likewise, if no reasonable expectation of privacy is infringed, the government action does not implicate the Fourth Amendment. The two-prong Katz analysis, therefore, presents a threshold determination that must be satisfied before inquiry into the constitutionality of a search or seizure is required. See id.

B. Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

In analyzing the expectation of privacy in this case there are two main issues before the Court: (1) whether the installation of the GPS device on the Chrysler infringes upon any reasonable expectation of privacy, and (2) whether monitoring the location of the GPS device, and thus the vehicle, infringes upon any reasonable expectation of privacy.

1. Installation of the GPS

Regarding the first issue—the installation of the GPS device—it is argued that there are two privacy interests potentially at stake: an interest in the private parking lot in which the vehicle was parked and an interest in the exterior of the vehicle.

a. Private Parking Lot

The parking lot in which Sparks's car was parked and the adjoining street were private property. Unfortunately for Sparks, notions of property law are only marginally relevant to this Court's Fourth Amendment analysis. See United States v. Cruz Pagan, 537 F.2d 554, 558 (1st Cir.1976) (“Whether or not the agents' entry was a technical trespass is not the relevant inquiry.”). Instead, the focus of this Court's inquiry must be on expectations of privacy. What's more, even though these areas were private, they were not private property owned by the defendant. Any trespass ⁷ committed by the police was a trespass against the owner of the...