United States v. Augustus

• Docket Number: CRIMINAL ACTION NO. 21-355-KSM
• Decision Date: 14 March 2022
• Citation: 590 F.Supp.3d 767
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, v. Jason AUGUSTUS.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

590 F.Supp.3d 767

UNITED STATES of America,

v.Jason AUGUSTUS.

CRIMINAL ACTION NO. 21-355-KSM

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

Filed March 14, 2022

Alexandra M. Lastowski, Assistant US Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office, Philadelphia, PA, for United States of America.

MEMORANDUM

MARSTON, District Judge

Defendant Jason Augustus has been charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). (Doc. No. 1.) He now moves to suppress the evidence on which the charge is based, arguing that the firearm and ammunition seized during a traffic stop were obtained by means of an illegal search and seizure and that his admissions to marijuana use and illegal gun possession arose as a direct result of his unlawful detention.¹ (Doc. No. 10.)

This Court held an evidentiary hearing on Defendant's motion to suppress on February 10, 2022. (See Doc. No. 17.) During the hearing, Philadelphia Police Department ("PPD") Officers Francis Coyle, Marc Rothman, and Christina Rios testified. Each officer's body camera footage of the vehicle stop involving Defendant was introduced into evidence (Gov't Exs. 2, 3, 4), as were a photo of the area where the stop took place (Gov't Ex. 1), PPD Directive 4.21² (Def.’s Ex. 28), and a PPD Vehicle/Pedestrian Investigation report from the day of the incident (Def.’s Ex. 16).

For the reasons discussed below, the Court grants Defendant's motion.

I. Factual Background

On the morning of February 23, 2021, Officers Coyle, Rothman, and Rios were on a routine tactical patrol in the 12th District.³ (Feb. 10, 2022 Hr'g Tr. ("Hr'g Tr.") at 9:16–19, 48:24–49:1, 67:16–18.) Officer Rios was driving the marked patrol van, while Officer Rothman was in the front passenger seat and Officer Coyle was in the rear.⁴ (Id. at 18:13–15, 62:23–63:1, 94:8–14.) When the Officers turned on to the 6400 block of Windsor Street⁵ that morning (see id. at 12:7, 12:11–13, 14:23–15:1, 49:2–7; Gov't Ex. A), they observed a silver Honda Odyssey that was parallel parked, but running, in front of a house on the residential street (Hr'g Tr. at 15:8–14, 51:4–11, 32:8–13). The Officers noticed that the vehicle's windows were heavily tinted,⁶ which is a violation of the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code, unless one of two limited exception applies.⁷ (Id. at 15:8–16:18, 93:4–7; see also id. at 59:22–61:7; id. at 68:4–6 ("Q: So the only reason you approached the car was the tints? A: Yes, it was running with tint.").) The Officers did not run the license plate number prior to approaching the running vehicle.⁸ (Id. at 66:15–22.)

At that point, the Officers pulled up next to the vehicle⁹ and knocked on the driver's window.¹⁰ Given the heavy tint, they were unable to see into the vehicle. (Id. at 38:8–11.) Defendant, who was sitting in the driver's seat, only rolled his window down part way,¹¹ which concerned the Officers. Officers Rothman and Coyle "had to ask him several times to roll down the window all the way." (Id. at 19:15–20:2, 53:6–13.) Officer Coyle testified that Defendant "seemed nervous," "was very hesitant to roll down the window any further," and was "avoiding eye contact." (Id. at 19:15–21.) According to Officer Coyle, the fact that Defendant only rolled his window down to eye level "pose[d] an officer safety issue" because that, coupled with the heavy window tint, prevented them from seeing into the vehicle, so they could not discern what Defendant's "hands [were] doing or what may be in the vehicle" or whether anyone else was in the vehicle. (Id. at 19:1–14.)

Officer Rothman testified that, given Defendant's reluctance to roll the window down, he immediately suspected that Defendant was concealing a weapon. (Id. at 74:2–23 ("Q: At the time that you asked him to roll the window down, you thought he had a firearm? A: I believed that he was concealing something, yes, that's why he would not roll the window down. Q: Did you see anything that would lead you to think that? A: I told you that I could not see into the vehicle, no, but the reason that he would only roll the window down to his chin I believe was to conceal something, yes. A: Conceal something, you didn't know what? A: I believed it to be a weapon, yes. Q: I am just asking you, what was that based on? A: That was based on him not rolling the window down ... and giving himself time to conceal something, because I had to ask him multiple times to roll the window down."); see also id. at 59:5–8 ("[I]n the beginning of the stop I was talking to him about getting him to roll the window down, so I was preoccupied at the time of what I believed was him trying to hide a firearm."); id. at 80:20–81:3 (Q: "When the Defendant first cracked the window to his chin, what was your kind of main concern in speaking with him? A: That he was concealing a firearm."); id. at 86:6–8 ("When I believed that he didn't want to roll the window down, I believed him to be concealing the firearm in his genitale [sic] area so, yes."); id. at 86:19–23 ("Q: And so at the moment that he only rolls the window down to his chin is when you believed he was concealing a firearm? A: Yes, I believed that he was buying time to conceal it, yes.").) According to Officer Rothman, Defendant "was irate" and combative, "was kind of stuttering," and "just appeared very nervous as if he was concealing a firearm."¹² (Id. at 81:25–3; see also id. at 82:17–83:1 ("Q: But the description you just made about being irate and appearing nervous, was that the case when you first encountered him? A: Him being irate, yes. Q: What about nervous? A: In the beginning before he rolled down the window, he was just very combative and very irate, and then eventually once we got the window rolled down, we could see that he was nervous and – yeah, he was nervous.").)

Likewise, Officer Rios testified that Defendant seemed "a little nervous" and did not want to roll his window down completely, and in her experience, this typically indicates that "someone is just trying to hide something and they don't want to speak to us because they are doing something they are not supposed to be doing." (Id. at 95:15–24; see also id. at 95:25–96:6 ("Q: And what about his behavior or demeanor made you think that he was nervous? A: Just mostly it was the rolling down the window.").)

In addition, after Defendant first cracked his window, Officer Coyle "detect[ed] the odor of freshly burned marijuana" (id. at 19:6–7), and Officer Rothman smelled burnt marijuana and thought it appeared "smoky in the vehicle"¹³ (id. at 53:14–23). Officers Coyle and Rothman asked Defendant if he had been smoking marijuana; he responded yes but said that he had medical marijuana card.¹⁴ (Id. at 20:10–13.) This indicated to them that he was operating a vehicle under the influence.¹⁵ (Id. at 21:5–16, 44:4–25.)

Although the Officers asked Defendant to get out of his vehicle, they did not ask for his driver's license or registration. (See id. at 80:7–10; see also Gov't Ex. 3 at 3:07–3:11 (showing the license was obtained after the arrest).) And they allowed Defendant to reach back into his vehicle to retrieve his phone. (See Gov't Ex. 2 at 00:00–00:07; Gov't Ex. 3 at 00:00–00:06.) The Officers also allowed Defendant to walk around for over a minute and a half, eventually directing him to the rear of his vehicle, while they continued to allow him to attempt to locate his medical marijuana card on his phone.¹⁶ (See Gov't Ex. 2 at 00:00–00:52; Gov't Ex. 3 at 00:06–1:38; see also Hr'g Tr. at 35:19–36:23, 55:11–17, 96:19–22.) After Defendant stepped to the rear of the vehicle, Officer Coyle frisked the driver's seat area of the car; he did not locate any contraband. (Hr'g Tr. at 22:14–23.)

Notwithstanding the fact that Defendant was allowed to move around after he exited the car for at least a minute and a half, the Officers testified that they believed that he was carrying a firearm in his groin area.¹⁷ (See, e.g., id. at 56:23–57 ("Q: So even while we see on the body-worn camera that he is looking on his phone, kind of walking around the van, during that time you suspect that he has a firearm? A: Yes.").) Specifically, Officer Coyle testified that as soon as Defendant stepped out of his car, he noticed that "there was definitely a bulge in [Defendant's] pants." (Id. at 23:17–18.) Likewise, Officer Rothman testified that as soon as Defendant "stepped out of the vehicle," Rothman noticed "a very large bulge in [Defendant's] groin area," which he "believed to be a firearm." (Id. at 56:10–16; see also Gov't Ex. 4 at 6:40–6:48; Hr'g Tr. at 61:19–23 ("I was commenting on right when I asked him to step out of the vehicle, the bulge in his groin that I believed to be a firearm, because it's not like – it was huge. The bulge in his waistband was that huge that I thought it was a gun."); id. at 78:10–17 ("I saw a gigantic bulge in his groin, yes, which I thought – which I knew was a firearm – believed was a firearm.").) According to Officer Coyle, as Defendant walked to the rear of his vehicle, "you could see he was walking with like a slight waddle," which also indicated to Officer Coyle that Defendant had "something in his waistband." (Id. at 22:4–13, 23:18–19.) And Officer Rios testified that although Defendant's back was towards her at first, once he turned to the side, she "could see in his groin area a large bulge," which she believed to be a handgun because she "ha[s] never met anybody that is that big" before. (Id. at 97:3–15; see also id. at 97:15–17 ("It just looked a lot larger like something was there, like, that is not normal.").)

Yet Officer Rothman did not conduct a pat down immediately. (See, e.g., id. at 78:13–70:13.) Officer Rothman testified that he did not act faster because he did not want to escalate the situation and because "[they] had [Defendant] in an advantageous spot" since he was stuck between his car and the police van, with Officer Rothman behind him, Officer Coyle in front of him, and Officer Rios on the side of him,...