United States v. Jackson
| Decision Date | 04 October 2017 |
| Docket Number | CRIMINAL ACTION FILE NO. 1:16-CR-145-TWT-JKL-8 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ADRIAN JACKSON (8) |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia |
This Order and Non-Final Report and Recommendation addresses the following pending motions filed by Defendant Adrian Jackson:
On May 19, 2017, the Court held an evidentiary hearing on Jackson's motions to suppress, and the hearing was continued on June 1, 2017. [Docs. 895, 900.] To refer to the hearing transcripts, the Court cites the docket number, followed by the page of the PDF file. The parties submitted post-hearing briefs on the motions to suppress. [Docs. 994, 1036.]
The government has responded to Jackson's motion for bill of particulars. [Doc. 846.] The government has also filed a response to Jackson's motion for disclosure of confidential informants. [Doc. 1068.]
The Court addresses the pending motions in the following order: (1) the motions to suppress, (2) the motion for a bill of particulars, and (3) the motion for disclosure of confidential informants. For the following reasons, the Court RECOMMENDS that Jackson's motions to suppress be DENIED. [Docs. 736, 750.] The Court further ORDERS that Jackson's motion for a bill of particulars and motion for disclosure of confidential informants be DENIED. [Docs. 735, 1037.]
Jackson is charged in this case with RICO conspiracy (Count One). [Doc. 1.] In connection with Count One, the indictment alleges that Jackson was a "Governor of Governors for the Western States," a position of regional authority within the Gangster Disciplines, and was also the National Treasurer of the gang. [Id. at 12.] The indictment identifies specific overt acts that Jackson is alleged to have committed in furtherance of the RICO conspiracy:
Jackson seeks to suppress evidence obtained and statements made on the day of his arrest in connection with the indictment in this case. On May 19, 2017, the first day of the evidentiary hearing, Jackson's wife, Chaunda Jackson, testified. [Doc. 895.] At the continued hearing, on June 1, 2017, the following witnesses testified: FBI Special Agent Kimberly Vesling; FBI Special Agent Ryan Demmon, the lead agent for the arrest; Randy Swiney, an agent with the Fresno County Sheriff's Office and an FBI task force officer; and Erick Lauren,an officer with the California Department of Corrections and an FBI task force officer. [Doc. 900.] The Court generally found the witnesses' testimonies credible, except where noted below.
The facts relevant to the motions to suppress are as follows. Jackson was living with his wife, Chaunda Jackson, and his children in Lemoore, a city in Kings County, California.1 [Doc. 895 at 4-5; see Doc. 900 at 5, 31.] Jackson and Chaunda Jackson shared a family car, a white Chevrolet Trailblazer, which was registered in Georgia in Chaunda Jackson's name. [Doc. 895 at 5-6; Doc. 900 at 12.] In connection with the present indictment, a warrant issued for Jackson's arrest, and the FBI coordinated with the Kings County Sheriff's Office to conduct a traffic stop and take Jackson into custody. [Doc. 900 at 4-5.] On May 4, 2016, at about 5:20 a.m., Jackson left his home, driving the Trailblazer. [Doc. 895 at 7; Doc. 900 at 5.] At 5:24 a.m., Jackson was pulled over. [Doc. 900 at 32.] At some point during the traffic stop, Jackson called his wife to tell her that he thought he was going to jail. [Doc. 885 at 6-7.] Jackson was arrested, searched, and placed in a police car. [Doc. 900 at 32-33, 36, 53.] During the traffic stopand arrest, officers did not ask Jackson for consent to search the car and did not search the car. [Id. at 7, 32, 43, 53.] Within about 10 to 20 minutes of the beginning of the traffic stop, police drove Jackson away from the scene toward the Kings County Sheriff's Office headquarters for an interview. [Id. at 32-33, 39-40, 53.] By 9:30 a.m., he was in the custody of the U.S. Marshals in the Eastern District of California, and at 10:45 a.m., he had an interview with a pretrial services officer. [Id. at 33-34.]
Meanwhile, after the police car carrying Jackson left the scene of the traffic stop, officers used a drug dog to conduct a "free air sniff" of the exterior of the Trailblazer. [Doc. 900 at 7-8.] The dog did not alert to the presence of narcotics. [Id. at 8.] At about 6:00 a.m., Special Agent Vesling and FBI Task Force Officer Nate Castro, who were participating in the coordinated take-down,2 went to Jackson's home to ask Chaunda Jackson to consent to a search of the Trailblazer and to ask her whether she wanted the Trailblazer left on the side of the road or driven back to her home. [Id. at 8-9.] Both Special Agent Vesling and Officer Castro were in plain clothes but were wearing vests and visible handguns inholsters. [Doc. 895 at 8-9; Doc. 900 at 9.] They knocked on the door, and Chaunda Jackson answered. [Doc. 900 at 9-10.] While standing at the doorway, the agents told Chaunda Jackson that her husband had been arrested, asked for her consent to search the Trailblazer, and asked whether they could go inside the home to speak with her. [Doc. 895 at 9-10, Doc. 900 at 10.] Special Agent Vesling testified that Chaunda Jackson made a "verbal recognition" of the agents' request to come into the home and opened the door for them. [Doc. 900 at 12-13.]
Chaunda Jackson testified that, when she was speaking with Special Agent Vesling and Officer Castro at the doorway, the agents explained that her husband had been arrested and told her about the charges he was facing. [Doc. 895 at 10.] She asked them to explain the charges further. [Id.] At some point, she asked whether she could go inside to check on her children to make certain that they were still asleep. [Id. at 10-11.] The agents told her that, if she went back inside, they would have to accompany her. [Id. at 11.] Chaunda Jackson responded, "[W]ell, if that's what you have to do, then that's what you have to do, but I have to check on my children." She and the agents went inside the house. [Id.] Special Agent Vesling accompanied Chaunda Jackson down a hallway while she looked inside the children's bedroom. [Id. at 11-12.] Officer Castro stayed in theliving room, Chaunda Jackson believed, "to make sure that no one else was really there." [Id. at 12.] Special Agent Vesling referred to this procedure as a "safety sweep." [Doc. 900 at 13.] She testified that the agents checked two bedrooms, and a child was asleep in each room.3 [Id. at 13-14.]
Chaunda Jackson closed the front door and went into the kitchen, and Special Agent Vesling sat with Chaunda Jackson at the kitchen table. [Doc. 895 at 14.] Officer Castro stood off to the side and seemed "stern" with crossed arms. Special Agent Vesling was "very relaxed" and asked Chaunda Jackson about her husband's finances, his associates, and whether he was involved in gang activity. [Id. at 15-16.] Officer Castro remarked in a "matter of fact" way that Chaunda Jackson was being "careful" with her word choice in answering those questions. [Id. at 16.] Chaunda Jackson testified that she was afraid during her encounter with the agents because she had "never been in any trouble with law enforcement" or "known [her] husband to be in any trouble." [Id.]
Special Agent Vesling "lean[ed] forward" and asked Chaunda Jackson whether she consented to the search of the Trailblazer, and Chaunda Jackson felt that Special Agent Vesling was being direct or "real" with her. [Doc. 885 at 17.] Chaunda Jackson felt "pressured" to cooperate because of Special Agent Vesling's change in demeanor. [Id.] Chaunda Jackson agreed to the search. [Id. at 18.] She was anxious about whether the home could be searched or she could be "arrested for not cooperating," and she worried about what would happen to her children if she were arrested.4 [Id.]
Special Agent Vesling did not have any consent forms with her, so she wrote out a consent agreement by hand. [Doc. 900 at 10-11.] Chaunda Jackson and Special Agent Vesling both signed the handwritten consent document, which stated: "May 4, 2016, Chaunda Jackson gave the FBI consent to search a whiteChevrolet Trailblazer, GA . . . License Plate PIY4372."5 [Id. at 12; see also Gov't Ex. 1.] Chaunda Jackson also agreed to have the police drive the Trailblazer back to the house so that she did not have to go retrieve it. [Id. at 14-15.]
After Special Agent Vesling informed police that they had Chaunda Jackson's consent to search the Trailblazer, they searched the interior of the car. [Doc. 900 at 14, 46, 54.] The drug dog sniffed the interior of the Trailblazer butdid not alert to the presence of narcotics. [Id. at 59.] Police found and seized four cell phones. [Id. at 14-15, 46-47.]
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