United States v. Rodriguez

• Decision Date: 09 July 2020
• Docket Number: Case No. 1:19-CR-00133-DCN
• Citation: 471 F.Supp.3d 1049
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Ismael RODRIGUEZ, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Idaho

471 F.Supp.3d 1049

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff,

v.Ismael RODRIGUEZ, Defendant.

Case No. 1:19-CR-00133-DCN

United States District Court, D. Idaho.

Signed July 9, 2020

Alexis R. Klempel, United States Attorney's office, Boise, ID, for Plaintiff.

Idaho Federal Defender, Theodore Braden Blank, Mark J. Ackley, Nicole Owens, Federal Defender Services of Idaho Inc., Boise, ID, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

David C. Nye, Chief U.S. District Court Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Pending before the Court is Defendant Ismael Rodriguez's Motion to Suppress (Dkt. 22) and Motion to Compel (Dkt. 27). For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Rodriguez's Motion to Suppress and DENIES Rodriguez's Motion to Compel as MOOT.

II. BACKGROUND

On March 18, 2019, at 3:50 p.m., law enforcement officers were dispatched to Nampa Commercial Tire after employees there reported that a person in the store was "inside rambling on, acting strange." Dkt. 22-1, Ex. A. Commercial Tire employees stated that Ismael Rodriguez had pulled up in a white Cadillac and that they were concerned because he appeared to be under the influence. For instance, when he arrived at the tire store, Rodriguez went to the counter and attempted to order two sodas. He then proceeded to follow customers around the store and employees into service bays.

Corporal Douglas Kern was the first officer at the scene. When he arrived, Kern viewed the white Cadillac and ran the license plate. The plate was for a blue 2002 Chevy Cavalier, not a white Cadillac. Kern walked past the Cadillac on his way into the store and saw that the vehicle was still running and was parked outside Commercial Tire's entrance—an area not designated for parking. Kern quickly glanced inside the vehicle and confirmed there was no one in the car.

Once inside Commercial Tire, a staff member pointed Kern towards the bathroom area of the store. As he began walking towards the bathroom area, Kern encountered Rodriguez. Kern stated, "how's it going dude?" Dkt. 22-2, Ex. B at 0:30. Rodriguez gave Kern a slight smile and wave as he attempted to exit through a door leading to one of the store's service bays. Kern directed Rodriguez to stop. As Rodriguez did so, Kern noticed Rodriguez was squinting and repeatedly clenching his jaw—physical signs consistent with drug use. Dkt. 22-3, Ex. C. Kern asked Rodriguez if he was lost. Rodriguez's slurred response was "no, just kinda tired." Id. at 0:35.

Kern then viewed a large bulge in Rodriguez's front left pocket. Kern could not tell if the bulge was a weapon and asked Rodriguez if he had anything on him "that you ain't supposed to have? No guns or nothing?" Id. at 0:43–45. Rodriguez responded in the negative as he patted at his pockets. Kern asked Rodriguez to pull up his shirt so he could see Rodriguez's waistline. Id. at 0:48–50. Rodriguez began to lift his shirt but instead quickly thrust his hands into his pockets. Id. at 0:55. As Rodriguez did so, Kern's demeanor quickly changed. Id. Kern told Rodriguez, "listen to me. Do exactly what I say or your ass is going to end up in the dirt, got it?" Id. at 1:00. Rodriguez insisted he wasn't doing anything and put his hands up. Kern repeated, "don't do anything else or your ass is in the dirt, you hear me?" Id. at 1:00–1:10. Rodriguez then rolled his eyes and lowered his hands. After Kern ordered him three times to put his hands on his head, Rodriguez complied. Id.

Using his right hand to hold Rodriguez's hands to the back of his head, Kern ordered Rodriguez to turn around and spread his feet. When he did not immediately comply, Kern used his foot to spread Rodriguez's feet apart. Id. at 1:12. As he did this, Kern told Rodriguez twice that he was not "fucking playing." Id. at 1:14–1:18. At that point, Officer William Koho arrived and Kern asked him to check Rodriguez's right side as Kern patted down Rodriguez's left side. While patting down Rodriguez's right side, Koho reached directly into Rodriguez's right front and back pockets and pulled out a roll of cash from the right front pocket. Dkt. 22-4, Ex. D at 2:02. After showing the cash to Kern, Koho returned it to Rodriguez's right front pocket. Id. at 2:11.

Kern, his voice calm again, then questioned Rodriguez, "so I'm gonna ask you real quick, is there anything in your pockets that you ain't supposed to have?" Dkt. 22-2, Ex. B at 1:35. Rodriguez replied, "no." Id. at 1:39. Kern gestured towards Rodriguez's left front pocket and stated, "anything in this pocket that you ain't supposed to have?" Id. at 1:40. Rodriguez replied, "not that I know of." Id. Kern questioned, "ok, can I get that stuff out of your pocket then?" Id. at 1:43. Rodriguez stated, "go ahead and get everything out." Id. at 1:45.

Kern told Koho to call for a canine unit and then began to pull a large Ziploc bag out of Rodriguez's left front pocket. Id. at 1:48. Seeing what appeared to be a controlled substance in the bag, Kern told Rodriguez he was going to place him in handcuffs. Id. at 2:05. As Kern handcuffed him, Rodriguez volunteered that the bag contained heroin. Id. at 2:22. Kern then explained to Rodriguez that he was arresting him and what was going to happen next. On the way to Koho's patrol vehicle, Rodriguez questioned Kern, "is that shit considered a life sentence?" Id. at 5:15. Kern responded, "no we don't really do life sentences here in Idaho, are you from California?" Id. at 5:20. Rodriguez responded, "I got heroin on me, shit!" Id. at 5:23. Kern then read Rodriguez his Miranda rights.

While Kern gave Rodriguez his Miranda warnings, Koho pulled the bag of heroin out of Rodriguez's left front pocket and put it in the back of his vehicle. Koho continued to search Rodriguez and retrieved a cell phone, the wad of cash, and additional loose bills from Rodriguez's right front pocket.¹

After placing everything in an evidence envelope in the back of his vehicle, Koho asked Rodriguez, "hey, who is the car registered to ... and why do you have fictitious plates on it?" Id. at 9:04–9:06. Rodriguez responded, "I don't know." Id. at 9:07. Koho asked again, "is that your car, I mean you were driving it right?" Dkt. 22-4, Ex. D, at 10:00. Rodriguez answered, "yes ... it's a buddy of mine's, somewhere over there," and looked off to his right. Id. at 10:03. Koho stated, "so it's someone else's car, the one you were just driving?" Id. at 10:07. Rodriguez responded, "yeah." Id. at 10:08. Koho asked, "what's your buddy's name, so we can get ahold of him to come get his car?" Id. at 10:11. Rodriguez mumbled something and then yelled, "why did I get put in this situation? I don't even like ... talking to you!" Id. at 10:22.

As Koho continued to try and identify the owner of the car, Rodriguez eventually invoked his right to an attorney, stating, "yeah, I want to call my lawyer dude. Can I call my lawyer now dude?" Id. at 12:25. Koho stated, "ok, I'm not going to ask you about the heroin anymore but I'm still trying to figure out where the car belongs." Id. at 12:37–12:42. Rodriguez mumbled something about needing to call his wife to bail him out. Id. Koho told Rodriguez to hang tight while he got the "car thing sorted out." Id. at 13:40.

Koho then closed Rodriguez in the back of the squad car and walked towards the Cadillac. As he did so, Koho advised Kern that Rodriquez had invoked his Miranda rights, telling him: "He invoked Miranda , He admitted that it's heroin, but he said he wants his attorney."² Id. at 13:45–13:52. Koho then approached the Cadillac, where Officer Friedli was waiting with his drug detection canine. Friedli circled the Cadillac with the canine, and the dog positively alerted twice to the driver's side door. Id. at 15:19–15:39. Koho and Friedli subsequently searched the vehicle. Inside, they found drug paraphernalia in the ashtray, a Kel Tec .22 caliber semiautomatic pistol between the center console and the passenger seat, and a large bag of methamphetamine inside a suitcase on the back seat. Dkt. 22-5, Ex. E at 2.

Officer Koho took the gun and the methamphetamine to his vehicle. When he arrived, Kern advised Koho that Rodriguez had bent the frame of Koho's car by banging his head against it and had picked up "another charge." Dkt. 22-4, Ex. D, at 22:47. When Koho opened the back door of his car to secure the contraband, Rodriguez turned around to look at Koho and immediately asked him about the gun. Id. at 23:14. Koho responded that it was stolen. Rodriguez questioned, "for real?" Id. at 23:17. Rodriguez continued to question Koho, but Koho told him to hang on and the officers would sort things out. Id. at 23:30.

Koho returned to the Cadillac to continue the search and learned Friedli had discovered two additional large bags of methamphetamine in the suitcase found in the back seat. When Koho returned the bags to his vehicle, Rodriguez again attempted to talk to him. Id. at 25:40. Koho did not respond and returned to the Cadillac, where Friedli had discovered another small bag of a suspected controlled substance. Koho took the small bag to his car and Rodriguez stated he didn't realize he had heroin in his pocket. Id. at 29:40. Koho then asked him, "what do you want us to do with your suitcase?" Id. at 29:44. Rodriguez responded that Koho should just leave it in the Cadillac.

Several minutes later, Detective Coronado, from the Nampa Police Department's investigative unit, arrived at the scene. Koho briefed Coronado on the situation and advised him that Rodriguez had asked to speak to his attorney. Id. at 33:52. Koho described Rodriguez's request as "kind of a weak invocation of Miranda. " Id. at 33:57. Coronado immediately began to question Rodriguez, but eventually ended the conversation due to Rodriguez's agitated state. Dkt. 22-8, Ex. H at 1. Rodriguez was subsequently booked into the Canyon County Jail.

The following day, on March 19, 2019, Coronado and Sergeant Hudson went to the Canyon County Jail to attempt to speak to Rodriguez while he was...