United States v. Sierra-Ayala

• Decision Date: 05 July 2022
• Docket Number: 20-1145
• Citation: 39 F.4th 1
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Luis Miguel SIERRA-AYALA, Defendant, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

39 F.4th 1

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,

v.Luis Miguel SIERRA-AYALA, Defendant, Appellant.

No. 20-1145

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

July 5, 2022

Kevin E. Lerman, with whom Eric Alexander Vos, Federal Public Defender, and Franco L. Pérez-Redondo, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Supervisor, Appeals Division, were on brief, for appellant.

Francisco A. Besosa-Martínez, with whom W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney, and Mariana E. Bauzá-Almonte, Assistant United States Attorney, Chief, Appellate Division, were on brief, for appellee.

Before Barron, Chief Judge, Selya and Lipez, Circuit Judges.

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

On January 29, 2017, Luis Miguel Sierra-Ayala was standing near his parents' house in Loíza, Puerto Rico, holding a black Adidas bag, when officers from the Puerto Rico Police Department arrived and gave chase to several other individuals who had been standing nearby. One of the officers approached Sierra-Ayala and discovered drugs within the bag. After arresting him, the officer discovered a handgun with an obliterated serial number on Sierra-Ayala's person. Sierra-Ayala filed a motion to suppress the evidence recovered during his arrest, arguing that he was seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment and that he was coerced into handing over the bag, which he claimed to be safeguarding for his cousin. After the district court denied the motion to suppress, Sierra-Ayala was convicted of four offenses relating to the possession of the weapon and the drugs. Sierra-Ayala appeals from this conviction, seeking review of the district court's denial of the motion to suppress and of limitations on cross-examination imposed during the trial. We affirm.

I.

A. Factual Background

We recite the "facts in the light most favorable to the district court's ruling" on Sierra-Ayala's motion to suppress, "noting where relevant [Sierra-Ayala]'s contrary view of the testimony presented at the suppression hearing." United States v. Rodríguez-Pacheco, 948 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir. 2020) (first quoting United States v. Camacho, 661 F.3d 718, 723 (1st Cir. 2011) ; and then quoting United States v. Young, 835 F.3d 13, 15 (1st Cir. 2016) ).

1. The January 29, 2017 Operation

On January 29, 2017, officers from the Puerto Rico Police Department ("PRPD") deployed to a "known drug point" on Melilla Street in Loíza, Puerto Rico. The operational plan was to conduct surveillance and to act if the officers observed criminal activity. Melilla Street is a residential street, with houses on both sides. The drug point targeted by the PRPD operational plan was in a wooded area of Melilla Street, near a vacant lot.

At about 8:50 a.m., PRPD officers arrived at the drug point in six or seven vehicles. Two vehicles were marked with the PRPD emblem and the rest were unmarked. Sergeant Jesús López-Maysonet was dressed in plainclothes and traveled with two fellow officers, Hector Garcia Nieves and Daniel López Garcia, in an unmarked car. As he arrived at the drug point, the sergeant observed seven or eight individuals with messenger-style bags. He testified that, based on his training and experience, this type of bag is frequently used to carry drugs and weapons. Sergeant López-Maysonet parked the car he was driving in a yard next to a house. The three officers then exited the vehicle and identified themselves as police officers by shouting "police." All but one of the individuals fled into the adjacent wooded area. As Officers Garcia Nieves and López Garcia chased the fleeing individuals, other officers were arriving at the site.

Sierra-Ayala was the man who did not flee; he remained sitting in a plastic chair as Sergeant López-Maysonet approached. The sergeant testified that Sierra-Ayala was wearing a black messenger-style bag across his chest. At the initial suppression hearing before the magistrate judge, López-Maysonet testified that after he identified himself to Sierra-Ayala as a police officer, Sierra-Ayala stood up, turned to the right, and showed him the contents of the bag. Sierra-Ayala testified differently. He claimed that he was concerned for his safety when Sergeant López-Maysonet approached him, and that the sergeant directed him to turn over the bag, which he had been holding in his hands. Sierra-Ayala testified that he complied with Sergeant López-Maysonet's request because he did not feel free to disobey the officer's direction. Ultimately, the magistrate judge credited Sergeant López-Maysonet's version of the interaction.

When the sergeant looked inside the bag, he saw "a transparent plastic bag" containing "purple packages that are used to pack heroin." Upon seeing the packaging, he informed Sierra-Ayala that he was under arrest, directed him to stand up, and read him his Miranda rights. Because Sergeant López-Maysonet did not have handcuffs on his person, he radioed for backup. After Sierra-Ayala was handcuffed, he patted him down and identified a gun in a holster on the left side of Sierra-Ayala's belt. López-Maysonet also testified that he retrieved $94 in cash from Sierra-Ayala's pockets. Sierra-Ayala testified that only $10 belonged to him and that the remainder of the cash was recovered from the bag belonging to his cousin.

2. Sierra-Ayala's Involvement

Sierra-Ayala testified at the two suppression hearings about how he came to be at the drug point on Melilla Street on January 29, 2017. Because this testimony is relevant to Sierra-Ayala's motion to suppress, we summarize it here.

Sierra-Ayala grew up in a house on Melilla Street about five or six houses away from the site of his arrest. Although he now lives with his wife and two children in a different area of Loíza, Sierra-Ayala returned to his parents' house on Melilla Street between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. on January 29, 2017 to work on a Nissan Pathfinder that he was keeping and repairing there. On the morning of his arrest, Sierra-Ayala was waiting for his friend Jose Carlos, who was going to help him remove the radiator from the Pathfinder and take him to purchase a replacement.

At about 8:30 a.m., Sierra-Ayala stopped working on his car and went to buy a soda and cigarettes from his cousin, who sells refreshments from his grandmother's house. This house is across the street from Sierra-Ayala's parents' house. Because the items Sierra-Ayala wished to purchase cost around $3 and his cousin did not have change for Sierra-Ayala's $10 bill, Sierra-Ayala went off in search of change. He walked toward a group of individuals further down Melilla Street -- which included another one of Sierra-Ayala's cousins, Jean Carlos Sirino -- and attempted to get change from Jean Carlos. While Jean Carlos searched for change, he passed the bag he was holding to Sierra-Ayala. Sierra-Ayala testified that the zipper of the bag was closed, and that he had been holding the bag for "[a]round five seconds" when the PRPD officers arrived. As discussed above, Sierra-Ayala testified that the officers' arrival and Sergeant López-Maysonet's approach and alleged order made him feel that he had no choice but to hand over the bag.

B. Procedural History

Sierra-Ayala pled not guilty to four charged offenses. He filed a motion to suppress the gun and drugs discovered by Sergeant López-Maysonet, arguing that the sergeant lacked reasonable suspicion to support the initial seizure and that the discovery of contraband in the bag was coerced.¹ Sierra-Ayala argued that his presence on Melilla Street was not unusual and that he was not engaged in any suspicious activity when the officers arrived in their vehicles. In response, the government argued that Sierra-Ayala was not seized at the time Sergeant López-Maysonet approached him, and that López-Maysonet acquired probable cause to arrest Sierra-Ayala after Sierra-Ayala voluntarily displayed the contents of his bag.

1. Initial Suppression Hearing Before the Magistrate Judge

The magistrate judge held a hearing on Sierra-Ayala's motion to suppress. Sergeant López-Maysonet and Sierra-Ayala were the only witnesses, and they testified to the facts as outlined above. During cross-examination, the sergeant testified that he had forgotten to identify the holster seized from Sierra-Ayala in two separate reports filed after the arrest.

Prior to defense counsel's cross-examination of Sergeant López-Maysonet, the government provided the court with information on four administrative complaints that had been filed against the sergeant. The magistrate judge determined that only one incident had the potential to be Giglio material,² and permitted defense counsel to cross-examine López-Maysonet about the incident. The following exchange occurred:

[Defense Counsel]: Sergeant [López-]Maysonet, there was an administrative complaint against you as a result of a theft or loss of monies during a warrant –- execution of a warrant. Is that correct?

[López-Maysonet]: That's not right.

After Sergeant López-Maysonet reviewed the administrative complaint, he explained:

[López-Maysonet]: Like I was telling you, I was the supervisor and I did the writ for the Lieutenant [Daniel López García].

[Defense]: Is that administrative complaint as against you or is it as against someone else, the [complaint] in front of you?

[López-Maysonet]: It's against Officer Daniel Lopez [García].

[Defense]: It's not against you?

[López-Maysonet]: No.

[Defense]: Does your name appear in that document?

[López-Maysonet]: It only shows my last name, Lopez Maysonet.

...

[Defense]: What is the nature of the allegation?

[López-Maysonet]: The nature of the allegation was that when I was supervising a search and arrest, the person that was subject of the warrant, Mr. Abner Arroyo, ... gave me some money, I counted the money and then an amount of money went missing. We went to the video, we saw the video again and then there was some money missing when I was counting it and then Officer Lopez Garcia said that he had taken it as a joke in order for us to see what happens when someone else from outside gets involved.

Officer López...