United States v. Myles
| Decision Date | 13 April 2022 |
| Docket Number | CRIMINAL ACTION 1:20-CR-479-ELR-JKL |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. SAMORA MYLES, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia |
FINAL REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
Defendant Samora Myles is charged in this case with one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of unlawful possession of six firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. [Doc. 1.] The case is before the Court on Mr. Myles's Motion to Suppress Evidence, in which he seeks to suppress evidence that Cobb County Police Department officers seized from his residence on February 8 2019. [Doc. 15.] On July 28, 2021, I held an evidentiary hearing. [Doc. 34 (“Hr'g Tr.”).] Two officers involved in the search-Officer Bora Balkan and Officer Joseph Sterner-testified at the hearing. Following the hearing, Mr Myles filed a post-hearing brief [Doc. 45], after which the government filed a response [Doc. 47], and Mr. Myles a reply [Doc. 48]. For the reasons that follow, it is RECOMMENDED that Mr. Myles's motion be DENIED.
On February 8, 2019, Officer Sterner, Officer Balkan, and two other officers with the Cobb County Police Department were dispatched to Mr. Myles's residence in Acworth, Georgia following a noise complaint about barking dogs and possible narcotics activity. (Hr'g Tr. at 7-8, 30-31.) Upon their arrival, the officers heard dogs barking in the garage, and when Officer Sterner reached the front door of the house, he smelled marijuana. (Id. at 8-9, 31).
Officer Sterner then knocked on the door. (Hr'g Tr. at 31; Gov't Ex. 5[1] at 0:08.) Samantha Myles (Mr. Myles's sister) answered. (Gov't Ex. 5 at 0:10.) Officer Sterner told her he had received a noise complaint about dogs and asked preliminary questions about where the dogs were kept, what kind of dogs they were, and how old they were. (Id. at 0:12-27.) Officer Sterner then asked, “Can I come inside and talk to you about it?” (Id. at 0:28.) Ms. Myles responded “Yeah, ” and opened the door wider in order to allow Officer Sterner to enter. (Id. at 0:29.) At least one other officer also entered the residence at that time.
Behind the front door was a small foyer area at the base of a staircase leading upstairs, and immediately to the left of the door was the living room. Because of the open floorplan, Officer Sterner immediately found himself in the living room. (Gov't Ex. 5 at 0:30-33.) There, he encountered Sha Goodrich, who was walking into the living room from the other side of the room nearest the kitchen; Officer Sterner also asked her questions about the dogs. (Id. at 0:30-41.)
Officer Sterner then noticed an even stronger odor of marijuana and saw a marijuana grinder containing marijuana in plain view on a couch in the living room, at which point he observed aloud, “They got a little bit of a weed issue, I guess.” (Gov't Ex. 5 at 0:43; see also Hr'g Tr. 9-10, 32-33.) At that point, Ms. Myles was still in the foyer area at the base of the stairs. Officer Sterner asked her if there was additional marijuana in the home, adding that “if you've got personal use, that's not a big deal, okay?” (Gov't Ex. 5 at 0:57; Hr'g Tr. at 33, 41.) Officer Balkan, who was standing in the threshold of the front door interjected that the officers were not there to ruin the women's lives. (Gov't Ex. 5 at 1:01.) Ms. Myles acknowledged having some marijuana, but just enough for “personal usage.” (Id. at 0:54.) Officer Sterner asked, “So are you talking about a couple of grams?” to which she responded, “No.” (Id. at 1:02.) He then asked “you talking about like 30-40 pounds?” (Gov't Ex. 5 at 1:08.) Laughing, she again responded, “No.” (Id.) Officer Balkan added, “We want to make sure it's not like a grow house.” (Gov't Ex. 5 at 1:09.) She responded, “It's my day off, sir.” (Id. at 1:11.)
Officer Sterner then asked, “Where is the rest of your weed?” (Gov't Ex. 5 at 1:18.) In response, Ms. Myles ran upstairs, presumably to obtain more marijuana. (Hr'g Tr. at 11, 33.) Officers Balkan and Sterner followed her out of concern that she might be running to get a weapon. (Id. at 33-34.) When the officers reached the top of the stairs, Ms. Myles met him on the landing holding a jar containing marijuana, which she told Officer Sterner came from Ms. Goodrich's bedroom. (Id. at 34; Gov't Ex. 5 at 1:34-46.) Officer Sterner confirmed with Ms. Myles that another door across the landing led to her own bedroom, and asked Ms. Myles if he could look in her room. (Id. at 1:51.) She said he could. (Id.) Officer Balkan entered and searched Ms. Myles's room. (Id. at 1:54.)
Officer Sterner also asked Ms. Myles to call Ms. Goodrich upstairs. (Gov't Ex. 5 at 1:47.) Ms. Myles complied, and several seconds later, as Ms. Goodrich was at the base of the stairway, Officer Sterner said (Id. at 1:57-2:01.) Ms. Goodrich then started upstairs and said that she had been smoking marijuana because it was her “day off.” (Id. at 2:01-05.)
Once Ms. Goodrich reached the top of the stairs, Officer Sterner asked her if that was all the marijuana she had; she responded yes, and then Officer Sterner asked if he could look in her room. (Id. at 2:05-2:11.) She did not reply, and instead moved a couple of feet into her room. Officer Sterner told her, “I don't want you reaching around just in case you have weapons or something.” (Id. at 2:11-18.) He asked again if she would “mind if [he] took a look” and mentioned that he could see that she had some bongs in the bedroom. (Id. at 2:18-23.) She still did not respond. He then said if she just had a little bit of weed, it would not be that big of a deal. (Id. at 2:24.)
Ms. Goodrich then moved further into the room, toward a nightstand to the right of the bed. (Gov't Ex. 5 at 2:26.) Officer Sterner told her to come back toward him. (Id. at 2:28.) Meanwhile, Ms. Myles, who was outside the bedroom, mentioned something about a search warrant. (Id. at 2:31.) Hearing this, Officer Sterner responded, “Do you want a search warrant?” and Ms. Myles responded no. (Id. at 2:33.) As this exchange unfolded, Ms. Goodrich again moved toward the nightstand, and Officer Sterner told her to stop. (Id. at 2:35.) He explained that marijuana had been found in her room; that they did not want it to “turn into a big thing to get a search warrant”; but that if she didn't mind them looking, “we can deal with it.”[2] (Id. at 2:37-47.) He also warned that if the woman wanted the police to get a search warrant, the officers would go obtain one and search the entire house. (Id. at 2:49-51.) Ms. Myles explained they didn't want the officers to do that. (Id. at 2:52-53.)
Officer Sterner asked Ms. Goodrich again if he could look in her room, and said “I know you've got a little bit more [marijuana] because you're freaking out.” (Gov't Ex. 5 at 2:54-58.) She then turned to the nightstand, which was directly behind her, grabbed a grinder, and showed it to Officer Sterner. (Id. at 3:01.) He then told her that he didn't care that she had a little bit of marijuana and a grinder, and asked if he could “look to check to make sure.” (Id. at 3:02-09.) She responded “Go ahead.” (Id. at 3:10.)
Officer Sterner walked into the bedroom and toward the nightstand, near where Ms. Goodrich was standing. (Gov't Ex. 5 at 3:13.) Soon after, he noticed a gun on the nightstand. He asked if she had any weapons, and she reached toward the nightstand. (Id. at 3:18-21.) He told her to stop reaching, and asked her to leave the room with him. (Id. at 3:22-24.) Outside the room, he explained that he did not want her reaching around, especially with a gun on the table. (Id. at 3:40.) He then asked if it was her gun, and she responded that it was not. (Id. at 3:52.)
Officer Sterner then went back into the room and called Officer Balkan into the room so he could call in the serial number of the gun to determine whether it was stolen. (Gov't Ex. 5 at 3:55.) Meanwhile, outside the bedroom, the women started to argue about why Ms. Goodrich had consented to the search of her room. (Id. at 4:48.) Officer Sterner then returned to the landing and asked Ms. Goodrich to clarify if he could search the rest of the room. (Id. at 4:55.) She said that he could go ahead and look for “weed.” (Id. at 5:07.) She then asked “What am I giving you permission to do?” (5:14) He responded, to search her room for “weed, drugs, or weapons.” (Id. at 5:18.) Ms. Goodrich, then said that the room was Ms. Myles's brother's room and that it was Ms. Myles's house. (Id. at 5:20-30.) At that point, Officer Sterner handcuffed Ms. Goodrich and Ms. Myles, and said that the police would obtain a warrant. (Id. at 5:32.)
While that was happening, Officer Balkan was still in Ms. Goodrich's bedroom, walking around with a flashlight. He called Officer Sterner back into the room and showed him what appeared to be ecstasy, or methylenedioxy- methamphetamine (“MDMA”), pills in plain view on a shelf of the nightstand. (Hr'g Tr. at 18, 36; Gov't Ex. 5 at 6:15.)
Ms Goodrich and Ms. Myles were taken downstairs and seated in the living room. Officer Sterner returned downstairs and asked Ms. Goodrich and Ms. Myles if there was anyone else in the residence. (Hr'g Tr. at 37.) They said that they were not sure. (Id.) Officer Sterner also asked if anyone stayed downstairs in the basement, and either Ms. Goodrich and Ms. Myles responded that people did stay there, including Mr. Myles. (Id.) Concerned that someone could be downstairs in the basement, Officer Balkan and Officer Sterner conducted a protective sweep. (Id.) During the sweep, they identified a suspected pill press, other items that could be used to manufacture MDMA pills, and...
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