United States v. Mansaw
| Decision Date | 20 April 2020 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 19-20062-01-DDC |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. LAVEIL D. MANSAW (01), Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Kansas |
This matter comes before the court on defendant Laveil D. Mansaw's Motion to Suppress (Doc. 16). Mr. Mansaw contends that a police officer unlawfully stopped his car on February 15, 2019. His motion seeks to suppress all evidence seized as a result of that stop. The government has responded (Doc. 21). For reasons explained below, the court denies Mr. Mansaw's motion.
The court held an evidentiary hearing on February 28, 2020, and unless otherwise noted, makes the following factual findings from the evidence presented on that date:
Around 9:24 a.m. on February 15, 2019, Officer Alex Gould prepared to leave the Bonner Springs Police Department1 at 13001 Metropolitan Avenue, Bonner Springs, Kansas, to begin his daytime patrol shift. It was snowing. In bad weather, Bonner Springs's patrol officers concentrate on helping motorists and responding to calls. As Officer Gould prepared to leave the parking lot, he saw a car about a quarter of a mile away to his south. The car was stopped in the middle of Sheidley Avenue, and its headlights were lit.2 Sheidley Avenue is an unmarked, 30-mile-per-hour road, which runs north and south through a mostly residential area. It is a hilly road with no sidewalks and, in the area germane to this case, no paved shoulders adjacent to the roadway.
Through the snow, Officer Gould could not discern the make or model of the car or anything about its occupants. He decided to check on it. He turned his marked patrol car right out of the police station parking lot and drove south on Sheidley Avenue toward the car. As he approached, he could see the car slowly making progress north on Sheidley, but its tires were spinning. As he neared the car, Officer Gould could identify the car as a white, older-model Buick. But the car's windows were iced over and dark-tinted, so he still could not discern anything about the car's occupants, or even how many occupants were in it. Officer Gould decided to drive past the car, turn around, and see if he could assist the driver.
Events unfolded quickly from there. Officer Gould drove past the Buick and began a three-point turn using a residential driveway on Sheidley Avenue. When Officer Gould pulled into the driveway, he saw the car begin backing, southbound, down Sheidley. Officer Gould completed his three-point turn and began to pull up behind the Buick. By that time, the Buick had stopped in the northbound lane of traffic. Officer Gould decided to initiate a traffic stop for illegal backing. As Officer Gould's patrol car approached the Buick, he saw the Buick's reverse and break lights turn off and then, the driver got out the Buick before the officer even could place his patrol car in park. The driver of the Buick began walking toward Officer Gould's car. Officer Gould put his car in park, radioed his location to his dispatcher, and activated his body camera. The government admitted a CD containing the video captured by this camera as Exhibit 1.3
Officer Gould started to step out of his patrol car as the driver approached him. He told the driver to stay where he was and motioned in the general direction of the Buick. The driver continued approaching Officer Gould. At that point, Officer Gould reached back into his patrol car and activated his emergency lights. He did so, he testified, because he wanted to warn any approaching traffic of the hazard and because he wanted to signal the Buick's driver that he was not free to leave. Then, Officer Gould informed the driver of the reason he had stopped him: "The reason I stopped you was for illegal backing down the street." At about the same time, a passenger wearing a yellow hooded sweatshirt stepped out of the Buick's passenger door and began walking away, i.e., walking in the opposite direction of Officer Gould and his patrol car.
Officer Gould got out of his car and met the driver—who had kept approaching Officer Gould even after he was asked to stop approaching—in the space between the front of the patrol car and the rear bumper of the Buick. He told the driver to get back into his car, and that he could smell the odor of marijuana on his person. The driver did not return to his car. Officer Gould also directed the passenger to return and lean up against the Buick. The officer believed the passenger was trying to distance himself from the scene. Then, the driver began acting nervously. He volunteered information about where he lived and where he was going. He then motioned to a nearby house and said that he "stayed right there." The driver sat down on the ground next to the street and, after a few seconds, stood up again. Concerned for his safety, Officer Gould asked the driver to keep his hands out of pockets. Then, the driver emptied the contents of his pockets—including a cell phone—onto the ground, which was covered with snow. The driver volunteered to Officer Gould he had nothing illegal. Officer Gould assured the driver that he didn't need to empty his pockets. Officer Gould again told him to "stay right here" as the driver continued to take items out of his pockets. He then directed the driver to lean up against the patrol car. Then, Officer Gould informed the driver again that he had stopped him for illegally backing down the street, but now, he was making the officer "a little nervous." Officer Gould again said that he had smelled marijuana when the driver first approached him, that he had been a cop a long time, and that marijuana was "not the crime of the century." He encouraged the driver to remain calm.
Then, Officer Gould asked for Mr. Mansaw's license and insurance information. The driver provided a license, which identified him as Laveil Mansaw, the defendant in this action. Mr. Mansaw told Officer Gould that he had his insurance information on his phone. He picked up his phone and dropped his wallet on the ground. By then, a second Bonner Springs police officer had arrived on scene and began talking to Mr. Mansaw. Officer Gould then asked the passenger for his identification. The passenger responded, saying he had no identification with him but his name was Taurez Adams. Officer Gould asked to search the pocket of Mr. Adams's hooded sweatshirt to make sure he had no weapons. Mr. Adams moved his hands away from his pocket and, as Officer Gould checked it for weapons, he saw green, leafy vegetation on Mr. Adams's sweatshirt. Gesturing toward Mr. Adams's sweatshirt, the officer asked, "What's that little green piece?" Mr. Adams then brushed the front of his sweatshirt.
Officer Gould then walked up alongside the driver's side of the Buick. He smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from the car. Officer Gould provided Mr. Mansaw's information to his dispatcher and asked her to check it. Then, the officer approached the driver's side of the Buick again as he waited for the dispatcher to reply. Looking through a rolled-up window, he saw a loaded magazine for a handgun resting on the center console. Officer Gould used his radio to communicate "Signal 1, magazine in the center console" to the other officer on scene.
Officer Gould told Mr. Adams he was going to pat him down because he could see an ammunition magazine for a handgun in the Buick. He also told Mr. Adams that he was not under arrest and that he only was checking him for weapons. The other officer on scene likewise conducted a pat-down of Mr. Mansaw. As a third officer arrived on scene, the return came back from the dispatcher about Mr. Mansaw. She advised that Mr. Mansaw had an expired driver's license and currently was on federal probation. Officer Gould then asked the dispatcher to run Mr. Adams's name.
At this point, Officer Gould walked over to Mr. Mansaw and told him he could smell marijuana coming from the car. Mr. Mansaw tried to show Officer Gould his insurance information on his phone. Officer Gould said that he had seen green vegetation on the passenger's sweatshirt, and he had probable cause to search the car for marijuana. Also, Officer Gould told Mr. Mansaw his driver's license had expired. Mr. Mansaw reached into his wallet—by then, it was resting on the hood of the patrol car—and, it appears, searched for a different driver's license or some other form of identification. Officer Gould then walked to the Buick, opened the driver's side door, and began searching the car. He found 40 pills in a brown pill bottle in the center console. Based on his experience, Officer Gould recognized the pills and suspected they were Ecstasy. He directed the other officers to take Mr. Mansaw and Mr. Adams into custody. They handcuffed the two men and secured them inside the patrol cars.4
The officers then continued to search the Buick. The government contends they found several other items inside it: (1) a loaded black 9mm Taurus pistol under the right side of the driver's seat; (2) a loaded 9mm firearm magazine in the center console; (3) a partial box of .45 caliber ammunition wedged between the center armrest and the front passenger seat; (4) a white vacuum-sealed canister with a black plastic bag containing several bags of marijuana (approximately 110 grams); (5) a blue plastic bag containing 112 grams of synthetic marijuana; (6) a digital scale; (7) a loaded firearm magazine; and (8) loose miscellaneous ammunition (.30, .357, and .45 caliber). Doc. 21 at 8-9. Officers took Mr. Mansaw and Mr. Adams to the Wyandotte County Detention Center, where, the United States contends, they found a plastic bag containing marijuana hidden in the groin area of Mr. Adams's pants. Id. at 9. The grand jury indicted Mr. Mansaw, charging him, among other things, with possessing marijuana with intent to distribute it, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possessing a firearm though prohibited by...
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