United States v. Coleman

• Decision Date: 03 May 2019
• Docket Number: No. 18-1083,18-1083
• Citation: 923 F.3d 450
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ronald Lewis COLEMAN, Jr., Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

923 F.3d 450

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.Ronald Lewis COLEMAN, Jr., Defendant-Appellant.

No. 18-1083

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: January 17, 2019

Decided and Filed: May 3, 2019

ARGUED: Clare E. Freeman, THE FEDERAL DEFENSE GROUP, P.L.L.C., La Porte, Texas, for Appellant. Sally J. Berens, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Clare E. Freeman, THE FEDERAL DEFENSE GROUP, P.L.L.C., La Porte, Texas, for Appellant. Davin M. Reust, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellee.

Before: BOGGS, KETHLEDGE, and NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judges.

BOGGS, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Ronald Coleman appeals the district court's denial of a motion to suppress the fruits of a warrant for vehicle tracking and a residential search warrant on the grounds that the warrants lacked probable cause and that law enforcement's installation of the vehicle tracker violated the Fourth Amendment. Because the warrants were amply supported by probable cause and the officer did not violate the Fourth Amendment when installing the tracker, we affirm.

I

On March 9, 2017, law-enforcement agents began investigating Eddie Powell, a drug dealer, and his sources of narcotics. A cooperating defendant¹ identified one of those sources as the defendant, Ronald Coleman. Officers began investigating Coleman and observed his two automobiles, a brown Trailblazer and a white Buick Enclave, in connection with suspected drug sales to Powell. Specifically, on April 7, 2017, law-enforcement officers observed an individual matching Coleman's description arrive at Powell's house, get out of Coleman's Enclave, enter the house, and leave three minutes later. Then, four days later, Coleman arrived at Powell's house in the Trailblazer and sold cocaine to the cooperating defendant.

Around this time, a law-enforcement agent checked Coleman's criminal history and determined he had felony convictions in 2006 and 2009 for delivery or manufacture of a controlled substance. The agent also discovered that both vehicles were registered to Coleman's father and observed that, in his experience, drug traffickers frequently register their vehicles in the names of family or friends to conceal their identities. The agent detailed all of these findings, as well as the facts from the suspected drug sales, in a supporting affidavit and, on April 19, 2017, obtained tracking warrants from a federal magistrate judge for Coleman's Enclave and Trailblazer on the belief that tracking those vehicles would provide evidence of their involvement in the distribution of narcotics.²

On April 20, 2017, an ATF agent attached the tracking devices to Coleman's Enclave and Trailblazer. To apply the trackers, the agent went to Coleman's condominium on East Springtree Lane SW in Grand Rapids, which is part of the Silverleaf Condominium Complex, a collection of approximately 40 residential units scattered across several streets within the complex.

There is no gate or fence at the entrance to the Silverleaf complex, but there is a small sign that says: "PRIVATE PROPERTY." The sign, however, does not forbid outside visitors and anyone can drive onto the streets of the condominium complex unimpeded. Residents are able to have visitors without requesting permission from neighbors, the Postal Service delivers mail to mailboxes inside the complex, and there is a single trash-collection business that serves all units.

Coleman's condominium unit is roughly a mile down the road from the entrance of the complex, alongside other similar buildings. His particular unit is in a building shared by three other families, and his driveway is shared with a neighboring family. The entire driveway consists of a single concrete slab leading to Coleman's garage and the garage of Coleman's neighbor. No gate, fence, or hedgerow surrounds the condo, and it is common for residents to walk by each other's vehicles over the course of a day.

To attach the tracking devices, the agent parked in a public parking spot across the street from Coleman's condo and walked up to Coleman's Enclave, which was parked in front of his garage a few feet onto the driveway. Coleman's Trailblazer was across the street, in a parking spot shared by residents and guests.

On May 4 and May 10, 2017, Coleman sold cocaine to Powell. During the May 10 sale, agents observed Coleman leave his condo, enter the Enclave, and get out of the Enclave at Powell's home. Agents also watched the GPS tracking data from the Enclave vehicle tracker, and the data appeared to show that Coleman traveled directly from his condo to Powell's house. Based on this information, agents applied for a warrant to search Coleman's condo for evidence of drug trafficking and money laundering. On May 23, 2017, a different federal magistrate judge than the one who had signed the tracking warrants signed the condo search warrant.

On May 31, 2017, agents executed the condo warrant, seizing approximately 500 grams of cocaine, a firearm, and documents and property indicative of money laundering. Agents then interviewed Coleman and he admitted possession and ownership of the cocaine and a firearm. Later that day, the government filed a complaint against Coleman and, on June 27, 2017, he was indicted on three counts of a five-count indictment, charging him with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

On July 25, 2017, Coleman moved to suppress the fruits of the vehicle-tracking and residential search warrants, arguing that the warrants contained insufficient probable cause and that the agents attached the tracking device on Coleman's Enclave in violation of the Fourth Amendment. After receiving the evidence and arguments, the district court held that (1) the Enclave warrant was supported by probable cause; (2) Coleman's driveway was not within the curtilage of his home; (3) the residential search warrant was supported by probable cause; and (4) even if the warrants were not supported by probable cause, ATF agents executed them in good faith.

On September 12, 2017, Coleman pled guilty to the three counts against him by way of a conditional plea agreement. The plea agreement allowed Coleman to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress. On January 22, 2018, the district court sentenced Coleman to 120 months of imprisonment.

II

Coleman first argues that the warrant for installing a tracking device on his Buick Enclave was not supported by probable cause. We disagree.

According to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(c)–(d), a magistrate judge must issue a tracking-device warrant if a supporting affidavit establishes probable cause to believe that the device will uncover evidence, fruits, or instrumentalities of a crime. Here, the affidavit had established numerous facts supporting the notion that the use of a tracking device on Coleman's Enclave could uncover further evidence of wrongdoing:

• A confidential informant identified Coleman as a current drug supplier to Powell.

• Authorities had been investigating four drug sales at Powell's residence, one of which involved Coleman dropping off cocaine for Powell.

• A law-enforcement agent observed an individual matching Coleman's description drive to Powell's house in the Enclave, stay only four minutes, and leave, activity that could be consistent with the driver engaging in illegal drug sales.

• Coleman had two prior felony convictions for delivery/manufacture of controlled substances.

• A Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN) check on the vehicle identified Coleman's father as the Enclave's owner.

Courts have upheld vehicle-tracking warrants based on much weaker factual allegations than these. See, e.g., United States v. Faulkner , 826 F.3d 1139, 1145 (8th Cir. 2016) (upholding a vehicle-tracking warrant where a confidential informant told police the defendant brought heroin from Chicago to Minneapolis, stayed at two addresses, and drove two vehicles, but where no one had directly observed either vehicle involved in suspected drug activity); United States v. McNeal , 818 F.3d 141, 150 (4th Cir. 2016) (upholding a tracking warrant where affidavit established merely that the vehicle was registered to suspect's mother and driven to case banks, and where an informant tipped authorities the vehicle was used in bank robberies). Accordingly, we hold that the tracking warrant was supported by probable cause.

III

Next, Coleman claims that authorities violated his Fourth Amendment rights when an ATF agent entered his condominium's driveway to install the GPS tracking device on his Enclave. Coleman alleges two Fourth Amendment violations resulting from the agent's actions: the first when the agent entered Coleman's condominium complex despite there being a sign reading "PRIVATE PROPERTY," and the second when the agent walked onto Coleman's driveway to install the GPS tracker.

"When the government gains information by physically intruding into one's home, a search within the original meaning of the Fourth Amendment has undoubtedly occurred." Morgan v. Fairfield Cty., Ohio , 903 F.3d 553, 561 (6th Cir. 2018) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). "But it is not just the physical house that receives the Amendment's protection. The curtilage—the area immediately surrounding and associated with the home—is treated as part of [the] home itself for Fourth Amendment purposes." Ibid. (internal quotations marks and citations omitted). "The protection afforded the curtilage is essentially a protection of families and personal privacy in an area intimately linked to the home, both physically and psychologically, where privacy expectations are most heightened." Collins v. Virginia , ––– U.S. ––––, 138 S.Ct. 1663, 1670, 201 L.Ed.2d 9 (2018). Courts have identified four factors as a guidepost to determining whether an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in an area, placing it within the...