United States v. Bradshaw
| Decision Date | 06 September 2018 |
| Docket Number | 3:17-CR-30101(02)-RAL |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. CHRISTOPHER LAMONT BRADSHAW, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of South Dakota |
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION FOR DISPOSITON OF MOTION TO SUPPRESS
Armed with a search warrant, tribal law enforcement officers seized drugs and contraband from property located on a rural homesite and its curtilage. Christopher Lamont Bradshaw claims that he was unlawfully stopped and detained at the site and that the warrant issued to search it was deficient and tainted certain evidence the Government intends to use against him. He seeks to suppress this evidence on Fourth Amendment grounds. Because the stop, detention, searches and seizures were constitutionally permissible and do not require exclusion of the contested evidence, the Court recommends that Bradshaw's suppression motion be denied.
BACKGROUND
During the evening of April 25, 2017, Officers Joshua Antman and Gerald Dillon, along with Special Agent Benjamin Estes - all drug task force officers for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe - interviewed a confidential informant (CI) who stated that Antonio Valentino Foster had been selling methamphetamine on the Rosebud Reservation for the last month. In the interviews, the CI disclosed that an individual by the name of Chris (whose last name was unknown) had been driving Foster around in a red four-door Volkswagen with tinted windows and no front license plate. According to the CI, Foster fronted the CI 9 grams of methamphetamine for $600 within the last day or two and 19 grams over the past month, which the CI had distributed to pay Foster for the drugs he advanced. The CI also revealed that Foster had sold an ounce of methamphetamine to Mike Gunhammer for $1,200 two weeks earlier.
That same night, shortly after the interviews, Agent Estes and Officer Antman administered a controlled buy of memamphetamine from Foster using the CI. The CI was supposed to purchase seven grams of methamphetamine from Foster for $600. Before the buy, Antman searched the CI and found $450 in cash on the CI's person. When asked, the CI said that the money was what he had collected to pay Foster for the earlier nine-gram front. Antman took and stored the money separately so that it would not be commingled with the funds used in the buy.
The CI drove to the controlled buy location while Agent Estes and Officer Antman watched from, and then passed by in, Antman's truck. After the purchase took place, the CI reported that Foster got out of a red Volkswagen Chris had pulled up in and sat in the CI's vehicle. There, Foster gave the CI two baggies of a white crystal substance in exchange for $600. Before departing, Foster remarked that he had moremethamphetamine to sell. The baggies field tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed approximately 13.5 grams.
At 6:43 p.m., the next night (April 26, 2017), Officers Dillon and Antman drove to Michael Millard's residence, outside Mission. They believed, given the information they had received, that this was where Foster and Chris were staying. The officers observed a red four-door tinted windowed Volkswagen car, without a front license plate, parked in the driveway of the home. Antman drove by the residence about four and-a-half hours later (at 11:08 p.m.) and noticed that the red Volkswagen was still there. At 3:40 the next morning, Dillon and Antman went to the home and saw the Volkswagen parked in the same spot.
Later in the morning (on April 27, 2017), Officer Antman requested a search warrant for the residence, surrounding curtilage, and vehicles located on the premises, including any vehicles belonging to Foster. A tribal judge granted the request and issued the warrant.
Officers arrived at the residence to serve the search warrant shortly after noon on April 27. The red Volkswagen was present, but it began to pull out of the driveway toward the road. Chris was the driver and Foster the passenger. Seeing that the Volkswagen was on the move, Officer Antman drove into the driveway and blocked the Volkswagen from leaving.
In response, the Volkswagen jolted in reverse, taking out a section of wire fence, before it swerved around to the corner of the fence line, became entangled in the fenceand other items and came to a halt. Chris and Foster jumped out of the vehicle and took off running into a nearby open field. Foster though quickly returned to the vehicle, grabbed something from it, and took off again. As he did so, Foster began tossing items into the field until he fell to the ground.
Ultimately, officers found $5,285 in cash and two cell phones on Foster's person. They also retrieved a soda can and black sock in the area where he had thrown items. The sock contained two baggies of a white substance, weighing 89.15 grams, that tested positive for methamphetamine. Several officers eventually apprehended and arrested Foster and Chris (later found to be Bradshaw) after chasing the two some distance.
At the scene, officers searched the red Volkswagen and seized from it another $97 in cash, two laptops, and a cell phone, as well as receipts and business papers with Bradshaw's name and address on them. Inside the Millard home, officers located and took possession of drug paraphernalia which, after being tested, had methamphetamine residue on it.
The Rosebud Tribe charged Millard with one or more drug tribal offenses. He moved to suppress the evidence seized from his house. A tribal judge granted the motion, finding that the tribal search warrant lacked the probable cause necessary to search the home. Neither Bradshaw nor Foster were parties to that case and the judge's order did not address either of them.
Meanwhile, a federal grand jury indicted Bradshaw and Foster for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, distribution of methamphetamine onApril 25, and possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine on April 27. Foster pled guilty to the methamphetamine conspiracy charge and has since been sentenced. Bradshaw though moved to suppress from use at trial all evidence seized during the execution of the tribal search warrant. At a hearing held to address Bradshaw's motion, the Government called three witnesses and offered 22 exhibits into evidence, all of which were received.
DISCUSSION
A. Stop and Detention
At the outset, Bradshaw takes issue with his stop and detention. He maintains that he was unlawfully blocked from leaving the driveway of Millard's residence, approached at gun point, and detained after a foot pursuit in an adjacent field.
An officer must have a reasonable basis to stop a motor vehicle. The critical question is: "[W]ould the facts available to the officer at the moment of the seizure or the search warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that the action taken was appropriate?"1 In answering this question, a reviewing court "must look at the 'totality of the circumstances' of each case to see whether a detaining officer has a 'particularized and objective basis' for suspecting legal wrongdoing."2Officer Antman and officers assisting him in the execution of the warrant had three valid reasons to stop and detain Bradshaw and Foster, who were trying to drive away in the red Volkswagen.
First, the search warrant authorized officers to search Millard's house and any vehicles within the curtilage of it or belonging to Foster. When Officer Antman arrived to execute the warrant, he saw the Volkswagen beginning to pull out of the driveway toward the road. The vehicle was still within the curtilage, where it could be searched. The vehicle might have belonged to Foster, in which case it could have been searched wherever found. Either way, Antman had reason to believe that the warrant authorized the search of the Volkswagen and it was reasonable for him to stop the vehicle to determine if it should be in the warrant search.3
Second, it was reasonable to prevent the Volkswagen from departing to find out whether any occupant of it was a resident of the Millard home. The warrant authorized searching the person of Foster as well as four other individuals. That gave Officer Antman reason to stop the Volkswagen and determine whether any of the five individuals were riding or hiding in the vehicle. The Supreme Court has recognized that "a warrant to search for contraband founded on probable cause implicitly carries with it the limited authority to detain the occupants of the premises while a propersearch is conducted."4 The Court has held that it was constitutionally reasonable to detain a person descending the front steps while executing a warrant5 and confirmed that the authority to detain forcibly during the execution process extends to all occupants of the premises, and not just the owner or subject of the warrant.6 Detaining occupants of a house, while it is being searched "prevent[s] flight in the event that incriminating evidence is found," and permits "the orderly completion of the search."7 Under the circumstances, Antman had the right to detain Foster and Bradshaw to determine whether they were occupants of the residence that he and executing officers were about to search.8
Third, impeding Bradshaw and Foster's ability to take off in the Volkswagen was justified by a strong interest in protecting Officer Antman's safety and other officers engaged in the inherently dangerous activity of executing a warrant to search for drugs.9 It was sunny outside and the vehicle, seen before at the residence, wasattempting to leave as Antman approached. The vehicle was close enough to the residence that those inside could see or hear what was going on and mount a defense. And had Antman and officers allowed the vehicle to drive away, they faced the risk that its occupants would use a cell phone and warn those in the house that a search was forthcoming and expose officers to increased peril. "The risk of harm to both the police and the occupants is minimized if...
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