U.S. v. Troxel
| Decision Date | 17 June 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 07-20051-JWL.,07-20051-JWL. |
| Citation | 564 F.Supp.2d 1235 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. John D. TROXEL, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Kansas |
Terra D. Morehead, Office of United States Attorney, Kansas City, KS, for Plaintiff.
Defendant John Troxel is charged with three counts of being an unlawful user of a controlled substance who possessed firearms in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(3) and 924(a)(2). (doc. 18). This case arises out of a domestic dispute between Mr. Troxel and his wife, Norma Troxel. Officers arrived at the residence in response to Ms. Troxel's call on July 28, 2006. Ms. Troxel gave them consent to search for Mr. Troxel in the home. During the search, the officers found narcotics and drug paraphernalia but did not locate Mr. Troxel. The officers returned on July 29, 2006, again in response to Ms. Troxel's request. The officers located Mr. Troxel lying on a bed and arrested him. They requested and obtained a state search warrant to search for maryuana, methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia; they executed the warrant that same day, finding a tin can with marijuana seeds and a marijuana smoking device. Federal agents then received a federal search warrant on August 2, 2006. They executed it and seized numerous firearms from the Troxels' residence.
On March 17, 2008, this court held a hearing on Mr. Troxel's Motion to Suppress ("Motion"), which sought suppression of evidence obtained during all the searches and letters between Mr. and Ms. Troxel. (doc. 14). On April 17, 2008, the court issued a Memorandum and Order, denying in part Mr. Troxel's Motion and ordering supplemental briefing on a number of remaining issues. United States v. Troxel, 547 F.Supp.2d 1190 (D.Kan.2008); (doc. 29). The court previously ruled that items found in plain view on a work bench in the "gun room" during the initial search for Mr. Troxel shall not be suppressed, but officers illegally seized the items found inside a cooler in the same room. As discussed below, the court now GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Mr. Troxel's Motion to Suppress as to the remaining items seized. The court adopts its findings of fact from the previous Memorandum and Order (doc. 29) and includes within the Discussion below any other findings of fact relevant to the issues presently before the court.
Evidence obtained through an illegal seizure is normally suppressed based on the exclusionary rule, but the inevitable discovery doctrine "permits evidence to be admitted if an independent, lawful police investigation inevitably would have discovered it." United States v. Cunningham, 413 F.3d 1199, 1203 (10th Cir.2005) (quotations omitted). "The government possesses the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the evidence at issue would have been discovered without the Fourth Amendment violation." Id.
Officers seized drugs and drug paraphernalia from a closed cooler inside the "gun room." Ms. Troxel gave her consent to search the room. As discussed in the previous Memorandum and Order, Ms. Troxel did not have authority to consent to the search of the "gun room." The seizure of items in the cooler could not be justified on the exigent circumstances doctrine (as the items found in plain view were) because Mr. Troxel, as the threat justifying the exigent circumstances, could not possibly have been found inside the cooler.1 The court, therefore, held that officers illegally seized the items.
The Government contends that the officers had probable cause to procure a search warrant at the time they illegally seized the items. The Government may not rely only on the existence of probable cause. The court must consider several factors when evaluating whether the inevitable discovery doctrine should apply in a warrantless search situation.
[A] court may apply the inevitable discovery exception only when it has a high level of confidence that the warrant in fact would have been issued and that the specific evidence in question would have been obtained by lawful means. Inevitable discovery analysis thus requires the court to examine each of the contingencies involved that would have had to have been resolved favorably to the government in order for the evidence to have been discovered legally and to assess the probability of the contingencies having occurred. In warrantless search questions, the process requires analysis of the factors described by the court in Cabassa. The more contingencies there are, and the lower the probability that each would have been resolved in the government's favor, the lower the probability that the evidence would have been found by lawful means.
Souza, 223 F.3d at 1205. The "Cabassa factors" that the court must assess in evaluating whether, in a warrantless search situation, the evidence would have been inevitably discovered are as follows:
1) the extent to which the warrant process has been completed at the time those seeking the warrant learn of the search; 2) the strength of the showing of probable cause at the time the search occurred; 3) whether a warrant ultimately was obtained, albeit after the illegal entry; and 4) evidence that law enforcement agents "jumped the gun" because they lacked confidence in their showing of probable cause and wanted to force the issue by creating a fait accompli.
Cunningham, 413 F.3d at 1203-04 (quoting United States v. Souza, 223 F.3d 1197, 1204-05 (10th Cir.2000)).
As to the first factor, the officers had not even started the warrant process at the time the illegal search was conducted on July 28, 2006. In fact, a search warrant was not applied for or obtained until July 29, 2006, after a complete search of the house including the "gun room" had been conducted the previous day. This weighs against the Government's use of the inevitable discovery doctrine.
The second factor is the strongest one in favor of the Government. There was a strong showing of probable cause once the syringes and dug out (used to carry and conceal marijuana) that smelled of marijuana were found in plain view, in light of Ms. Troxel's statement that Mr. Troxel had been up for four or five days straight on some kind of drug and the destruction inside the home. Interestingly, however, only parts of this information were included in the affidavit for the state search warrant.
The third factor, whether the search warrant was actually obtained, cannot be viewed in favor of the Government.2 First, the state search warrant was obtained the following day, but not independent of the illegal search. The illegally seized evidence, such as the methamphetamine, was a partial basis for that search warrant. Unconstitutionally obtained material cannot support a probable cause determination for the issuance of a search warrant. United States v. Scales, 903 F.2d 765 (10th Cir.1990).
More importantly, the state search warrant is invalid, as subsequently discussed in Part II. There were several false statements and material omissions included in the affidavit to get the search warrant. The court finds that where a search warrant was obtained based in part on the illegally seized evidence (the same evidence that the Government urges should not be suppressed under the inevitable discovery doctrine), and where the state search warrant is invalid altogether, it cannot support a showing that a search warrant would have been or was obtained despite the illegal search. This factor weighs against the Government.
Last, it seems that officers relied on the consent because they thought Ms. Troxel had the authority to consent, not necessarily because they meant to "jump the gun." The officer's reasoning for searching, however, was based on a mistake of law. The officer assumed that the husband-wife relationship was enough to validate the consent. This was not a case where officers misinterpreted the facts and had their misinterpretation been correct, they would have been able to legally search. Instead, the officers knew of the facts, such as that Mr. Troxel forbade Ms. Troxel from entering the room, but the officer assumed that the law was different than it was. No mistake of law, as opposed to a mistake of fact, can be reasonable or form the basis for probable cause even if that mistake of law was in good faith. United States v. Salinas-Cano, 959 F.2d 861, 865-66 (10th Cir.1992); see also United States v. Tibbetts, 396 F.3d 1132, 1138 (10th Cir.2005) (). This fourth factor cannot be said to be in favor of the Government when a mistake of law was the cause of the illegal search. Because the court also does not find that the officers acted in bad faith in proceeding with the search, however, the court finds that this factor is neutral, not weighing heavily in the favor of either party.
Based on a balancing of these factors, the court finds that it does not have "a high level of confidence that the warrant in fact would have issued." See Souza, 223 F.3d at 1205. It appears that the Government relies on the fact that at the time the search of the cooler occurred, the officers had probable cause. In light of the Tenth Circuit's strict standard for inevitable discovery in this context, however, this is not enough. See United States v. Moore, 37 Fed. Appx. 963, 2002 WL 1335594 (10th Cir. Jun. 19, 2002) (); see also United States v. Brown, 64 F.3d 1083, 1085 (7th Cir.1995) (...
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