United States v. Maxwell
| Decision Date | 01 October 2021 |
| Docket Number | 21-cr-2013-CJW |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. ANTIONE DEANDRE MAXWELL and CHAVEE E'LAUN HARDEN, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa |
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION ON DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS TO SUPPRESS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION 3
II. FINDINGS OF FACT 4
III. DISCUSSION ............................................................................... 12
1. Parties' Positions .......................................................... 12
2. Whether Entry was Justified by Probable Cause and Exigency .................................................................... 13
a. Existence of Probable Cause ................................... 15
b. Existence of Exigent Circumstances for Entry and a Protective Sweep .................................................. 16
i. The Parties' Arguments ................................. 16
ii. Legal Standards ........................................... 17
iii. Analysis ..................................................... 22
3. Whether the Inevitable Discovery and Independent Source Doctrines Apply to Evidence Seized in the Warrant Search of Defendant Harden's Residence ......................................... 27
a. Inevitable Discovery .............................................. 28
b. Independent Source .............................................. 34
i. The Affidavits in Support of the Warrants ........... 34
ii. Legal Standards ........................................... 41
iii. Analysis ..................................................... 42
iv. Conclusion ................................................. 46
4. The Leon Good Faith Exception ....................................... 46
5. Conclusion .................................................................. 49
1. Defendant Maxwell's Argument ........................................ 49
2. The Warrant ................................................................ 50
3. Analysis ..................................................................... 52
4. The Leon Good Faith Exception ....................................... 56
5. Conclusion .................................................................. 57
IV.CONCLUSION ............................................................................. 57
On March 17, 2021, the Grand Jury indicted Antione Deandre Maxwell on one count of Conspiracy to Interfere with Commerce by Robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1951, one count of Possession of a Firearm by a Felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(1), and one count of Using and Carrying a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c). (Doc. 36.) By the same indictment, the Grand Jury indicted Chavee E'Laun Harden on one count of Conspiracy to Interfere with Commerce by Robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1951.[1] (Id.) Defendant Maxwell and Defendant Harden will be referred to collectively as “Defendants.”
The matters before the Court are Defendant Maxwell's Motion to Suppress Search Warrant (Doc. 62) and Defendant Harden's Motion to Suppress (Doc. 73). The Honorable C.J Williams, United States District Court Judge, referred the motions to me for a Report and Recommendation. The Government timely filed Resistances. (Docs. 64, 79.) I held a hearing on Thursday, July 28, 2021. (Doc. 85.)
At the hearing, the Government offered the following exhibits, which were admitted without objection:
The Government called two witnesses:
II. FINDINGS OF FACT
The facts that gave rise to Defendants' indictments and current motions are complicated, with relevant events occurring in at least three locations. The following facts were established from the hearing testimony of Lieutenants Bose and Richter, unless otherwise noted. I found both witnesses credible.
On the night of November 4, 2020, G.H. and J.B. were victims of an armed robbery at their apartment on Shamrock Drive in Waterloo, Iowa. (Doc. 4 at 3.) J.B. told police that she and G.H. were watching Netflix at the apartment when G.H.'s friend “Vae”[5] joined them. (Doc. 79-2 at 7.) J.B. had met Vae five to six times previously. (Id. at 8.) G.H. did not know Vae's full name. (Id.) J.B. described Vae as a black male with long “dreads” that he usually wore wrapped on the top of his head. (Id. at 7-8.) On this evening, Vae spent approximately 30-60 minutes with J.B. and G.H., much of the time Vae on his phone. (Id. at 8.) G.H. told officers that Vae usually drives a dark- colored SUV but thought Vae had arrived in his girlfriend's silver Malibu that night. (Id. at 9.)
As Vae started to leave the apartment, two men entered wearing black ski masks and carrying guns. J.B. said, “[T]he way it happened[, ] there was no way [Vae] did not see them.” (Id. at 8.) G.H. and J.B. described both men as black and said they wore dark-colored clothing and gloves. (Id.) Although both men wore black ski masks, G.H. could see the man who held a gun on him had hazel or blue eyes.[6] (Id.) The man took G.H. to his bedroom where he “tore the room apart” looking for valuables and eventually found a bundle of approximately $1400 in cash under G.H.'s bed. (Id.) J.B. told officers the cash was wrapped with “a simple black hair tie.” (Id.)
The other man pushed J.B. around the living room while holding a gun and asking her for valuable items. (Id.) The man grabbed the back of J.B's shirt and asked her if “she was ready to die today.” (Id.) He took her into her bedroom and asked for valuables. (Id.) At one point, the man hit J.B. on the right side of her face with the gun and on the left side of her face with his open hand. (Id.)
The men eventually told both J.B. and G.H. to lie on their stomachs on the living room floor and count to 100 while they left. (Id. at 8-9.) G.H. and J.B. reported the men left in a silver vehicle. (Id. at 9.) The intruders took approximately $1400 cash, a Nintendo Switch, and two iPhones. (Id. at 8.)
That same evening, at approximately 9:40 p.m., Lt. Steven Bose, an 18-year-veteran of the Waterloo Police Department, was sitting with his lights on at the intersection of Washington Street and 15th Street where Highway 218 runs through Waterloo, Iowa.[7] A blue Chevrolet Trailblazer LS drove past his patrol car in the middle lane without slowing down or moving into the left lane in violation of Iowa law. Lt. Bose attempted to stop the Trailblazer, but the vehicle did not stop until it approached a red traffic light at Commercial Street. As the Trailblazer stopped, the front-seat passenger opened his door and fled on foot, dropping a black object that did not appear to be heavy. According to Lt. Bose, the front-seat passenger was a skinny black male wearing all dark clothing and dark shoes. Lt. Bose pursued the passenger on foot. The passenger ran fast and Lt. Bose tried to head him off on foot in the parking lot of a car dealership on Commercial near 10th Street.[8] There are only a few houses on 10th Street. A silver vehicle backed into the driveway of the house farthest down the block and closest to the river-172 West 10th Street-momentarily caught Lt. Bose's attention while he was scanning the scene looking for the fleeing passenger. Lt. Bose noticed a black male standing on the driver's side of the vehicle with one of the doors open. (Doc. 79-2 at 5.) The man did not appear to be wearing dark clothing, but Lt. Bose admits he did not look very closely. (Bose Hr'g Test.) While pursuing the passenger, Lt. Bose had called for backup, and within a minute there were three or four officers on the scene.
Another officer eventually called Lt. Bose's attention to a black male in all-black clothing about midway down the block on 10th Street across the street from the car dealership. This man, Defendant Dennis Brown, Jr., told Lt. Bose that he had not run from him and Lt. Bose tended to believe him, in spite of the black clothing, because Defendant Brown was not out of breath. Nonetheless, Lt. Bose ordered Defendant Brown to the ground, handcuffed him, and then walked him to his squad car to review his vehicle video. After reviewing the video, Lt Bose released Defendant Brown because Defendant Brown was “thicker” than the man in the video, the man in the video was wearing dark blue jeans with “distress marks” or “wear marks” on the back pockets or back of the thighs and Defendant Brown was wearing jogging-style pants. Defendant Brown explained that he was in the area to visit a friend who lived on the block. Lt. Bose continued his...
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