U.S. v. Williams

• Decision Date: 16 October 2008
• Docket Number: No. 06-2018.,06-2018.
• Citation: 544 F.3d 683
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. David WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

544 F.3d 683

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. David WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 06-2018.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: March 11, 2008.

Decided and Filed: October 16, 2008.

ARGUED: Bradley R. Hall, Federal Defender Office, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellant. Graham Leslie Teall, Assistant United States Attorney, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Bradley R. Hall, Jonathan Miles Epstein, Federal Defender Office, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellant. Graham Leslie Teall, Assistant United States Attorney, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.

Before: SILER, MOORE, and McKEAGUE, Circuit Judges.

SILER, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which McKEAGUE, J., joined. MOORE, J. (pp. 690-96), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.

OPINION

SILER, Circuit Judge.

In 2004, police officers in Detroit, Michigan executed a search warrant at a residence, where they arrested Defendant David Williams and seized evidence, including illegal drugs and a firearm. Based on this evidence, Williams was indicted for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Williams moved to suppress the seizure of the drugs and firearm. After the district court denied that motion, Williams entered a conditional plea of guilty to both crimes.

Williams now appeals the denial of his motion to suppress the evidence seized during the search. He argues that the district court erred in denying his motion because the search warrant that established Williams's illegal use of handguns and identified his apartment did not state any further connection between Williams and the apartment, and because the search warrant failed to establish probable cause in that it relied on "unreliable, conflicting, and uncorroborated information."

For the following reasons, we AFFIRM.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. The Factual Background

In 2004, the Detroit Police Department's Firearm Investigative Team ("FIT") and the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms ("ATF"), were engaged in a joint investigation, during which they obtained and executed multiple search warrants for residences in Detroit. Officers searched 5950 Hedwig Street on July 12, 2004, which led to a search of 5409 Springwells Street on July 15, 2004. Both locations were residences of Jose Cosme, who owned two firearms seized during the searches. Cosme told the officers that an individual identified as "D-Bird" moved two firearms from the residences just before the searches, namely, a .25 caliber handgun and a .45 caliber handgun. Cosme also told the officers that a few weeks prior to the searches, "D-Bird" robbed a drug trafficker of five pounds of marijuana using one of those handguns. Cosme reported that "D-Bird" lived on Tarnow Street, between Michigan Avenue and the I-94 service drive, and that "D-Bird" drove a silver Monte Carlo car. Cosme's mother, Stella Reinoso, confirmed Cosme's statements to the officers.

On July 16, 2004, officers arrested Kamico Jackson, a known associate of Cosme and "D-Bird." Jackson identified "D-Bird" as Williams and showed the officers Williams's residence. Jackson identified Williams's residence as the upper apartment unit at 4900 Tarnow Street, which corroborated Cosme's description of the address. Jackson also substantiated Cosme's statements to the officers, informing them that he also saw Williams with a .25 caliber handgun and a .45 caliber handgun, that Williams drove a silver Monte Carlo, and that Williams robbed a drug trafficker at gunpoint in the preceding weeks. Jackson also told the officers that police had recently arrested Williams for possessing a stolen vehicle, and that Williams had a gun in his car at the time of his arrest.

On July 17, 2004, Officer Darryl Stewart conducted surveillance at 4900 Tarnow Street, where he saw a silver Monte Carlo. He also observed a man standing next to the Monte Carlo who fit the description of Williams as given by Cosme, Reinoso, and Jackson. On July 22, 2004, Officer Stewart again saw the Monte Carlo at 4900 Tarnow Street, after which he searched police databases using the description of Williams. That search yielded a photograph of Williams, and confirmed that police arrested Williams on June 26, 2004, for carrying a concealed weapon.

On July 23, 2004, Officer Stewart sought and obtained a search warrant for 4900 Tarnow Street. In his warrant application, he alleged that (i) Williams resided in the upper level apartment at 4900 Tarnow Street; (ii) Williams possessed two firearms, a .25 caliber handgun and a .45 caliber handgun; (iii) one month prior to the warrant application, Williams used a .45 caliber handgun to rob five pounds of marijuana from a drug trafficker; (iv) Williams was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon on June 26, 2004; and (v) Williams was recently arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle where a gun was found in the vehicle.

The officers executed the search warrant on July 23, 2004, when they entered the residence through an open, outside back door that led into a common hallway shared by other residents. The officers moved up a common stairwell to Williams's upper-level residence, where through the open door to the residence, they saw Williams cutting crack cocaine on a table. The police then entered the residence, arrested Williams, and searched the residence, which yielded a short-barreled shotgun and cocaine base.

II. The Procedural Background

Williams was later indicted on charges of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and possession of a short-barreled shotgun in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(B)(I). The district court denied Williams's motion to suppress. Williams entered a conditional guilty plea on both charges and was sentenced to 130 months imprisonment.

STANDARDS OF REVIEW

When reviewing a district court's decision on a motion to suppress, we must uphold the district court's factual findings unless those findings are clearly erroneous, and we review the district court's legal conclusion as to the existence of probable cause de novo. United States v. Combs, 369 F.3d 925, 937 (6th Cir.2004) (citing United States v. Hill, 195 F.3d 258, 264 (6th Cir.1999)). When reviewing the district court's decision we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the government. Id. (citing United States v. Walker, 181 F.3d 774, 776 (6th Cir.1999)). We also give great deference to an issuing judge's finding of probable cause in a search warrant application; that decision should be reversed only when it was arbitrary. Id. (quoting United States v. Miller, 314 F.3d 265, 268 (6th Cir.2002)); see also United States v. Laughton, 409 F.3d 744, 747 (6th Cir.2005) ("The duty of a reviewing court is simply to ensure that the magistrate had a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed." (quoting Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983))).

DISCUSSION

I. The district court correctly found that the search warrant established a nexus between Williams's suspected possession of the handguns and his residence sufficient to support the issuing judge's finding of probable cause.

The Fourth Amendment requires probable cause for a search warrant to issue, Laughton, 409 F.3d at 747 (citing U.S. Const. amend. IV; United States v. Helton, 314 F.3d 812, 819 (6th Cir.2003)), and requires that a search warrant describe with particularity the place to be searched and the items to be seized, United States v. Bethal, 245 Fed.Appx. 460, 464 (6th Cir.2007) (unpublished decision) (quoting U.S. Const. amend. IV). An issuing judge may find probable cause to issue a search warrant when "there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place." Laughton, 409 F.3d at 747 (quoting Gates, 462 U.S. at 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317). In order to make this determination, the issuing judge must undertake a "practical, common sense" evaluation of "all of the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him." Laughton, 409 F.3d at 747 (quoting Gates, 462 U.S. at 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317).

In making this practical, common sense determination, the issuing judge must look for certain criteria. First, the affidavit or warrant request "must state a nexus between the place to be searched and the evidence sought." Bethal, 245 Fed.Appx. at 464 (quoting United States v. Van Shutters, 163 F.3d 331, 336-37 (6th Cir.1998) (quoting United States v. Alix, 86 F.3d 429, 435 (5th Cir.1996))) (internal quotation marks omitted); see United States v. Greene, 250 F.3d 471, 479 (6th Cir.2001) ("Probable cause exists where there is a fair probability, given the totality of the circumstances, that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place." (internal quotations omitted)); see also United States v. Schultz, 14 F.3d 1093, 1097 (6th Cir.1994) (holding that there is no probable cause for a warrant where the affidavit lacked a nexus between the location to be searched and the suspected criminal activity). Second, "[t]he belief that the items sought will be found at the location to be searched must be `supported by less than prima facie proof but more than mere suspicion.'" Bethal, 245 Fed.Appx. at 464 (quoting United States v. Johnson, 351 F.3d 254, 258 (6th Cir.2003) (quoting United States v. Bennett, 905 F.2d 931, 934 (6th Cir.1990))).

Neither the issuing judge nor the reviewing courts should engage in line-by-line scrutiny of the warrant application's affidavit. Id. at 465; United States v. Allen, 211 F.3d 970, 973 (6th Cir.2000) (quoting Gates, 462 U.S. at 246 n. 14, 103 S.Ct. 2317). Rather, the courts should take a totality of the circumstances approach in their review of the affidavit, and the courts may afford "considerable weight to the conclusion...