US v. $61,433.04 US CURRENCY, 92-109-CIV-5-H.
| Decision Date | 06 April 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 92-109-CIV-5-H.,92-109-CIV-5-H. |
| Citation | 894 F. Supp. 906 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of North Carolina |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. $61,433.04 U.S. CURRENCY and One Tract of Real Property (Consisting of Two Lots) With Appurtenances and Improvements Thereto, Located in Wilson County, Wilson Creek Township, Having a Street Address of 1699 Bynwood Circle, Wilson, North Carolina, and Being More Particularly Described in a Deed Recorded in Book 1336, Page 902 of the Wilson County Registry and Being Titled in the Names of James Ronson Taylor and Wife, Jamel Earleen White Taylor, and any and all Proceeds from the Sale of Said Property, Defendant. |
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Tom Swaim, Asst. U.S. Atty., Raleigh, NC, for plaintiff.
John A. Shorter, Washington, DC, for defendant.
This matter comes before the court on the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the motion to suppress presented by claimants James Ronson Taylor and Jamel Earleen Taylor (collectively, "claimants"). This matter was referred to the Honorable Charles K. McCotter, Jr., United States Magistrate Judge, who entered a Memorandum and Recommendation to the court on March 2, 1995. The claimants filed objections to the Memorandum and Recommendation on March 13, 1995. The plaintiff filed its response to the claimants' objection on March 22, 1995. This matter is ready for adjudication.
This action arises from a civil forfeiture action brought by the plaintiff United States of America of the defendant property pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 981 and 18 U.S.C. § 1955(d). The complaint alleges that the defendant property, allegedly belonging to James Ronson Taylor and Jamel Earleen White Taylor, were properties used or involved in an illegal gambling operation. James Ronson Taylor and Jamel Earleen White Taylor filed separate claims for the defendant property on May 22, 1992. The plaintiff motioned the court for summary judgment on October 19, 1992. The claimants motioned to suppress the evidence presented by the plaintiff in support of its motion for summary judgment as a violation of their privacy rights of the Fourth Amendment. Following the claimants' response to the motion for summary judgment, the court denied the motion to suppress and granted the motion for summary judgment.
The claimants presented notice of appeal of the court's March 24, 1993, order granting summary judgment. This action was stayed pending appeal by the claimants to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ("Fourth Circuit"). In an order filed January 10, 1994, the Fourth Circuit vacated this court's holding and remanded the matter back to this court for an evidentiary hearing on the claimants' motion to suppress and for a review of the claimants' Eighth Amendment arguments of a disproportionate penalty.
An evidentiary hearing was conduct by Magistrate Judge McCotter on August 30 to September 9, 1994. Magistrate Judge McCotter determined that the claimants' motion to suppress evidence should be denied and that the claimants' Eighth Amendment excessive fine arguments should not deny the forfeiture of the defendant property to the United States given the facts of this case and the existing law.
The claimants object to the Memorandum and Recommendation alleging that the claimants' home was searched in violation of the Fourth Amendment and that the court inappropriately utilized the instrumentality test for determining if the forfeiture violated the Eighth Amendment. In particular, the claimants maintain that they had a justifiable expectation of privacy when their venetian blinds were partially closed. The claimants contend that the police officer's statements concerning the observation of a bag of white powder at the hearing before Magistrate Judge McCotter was not credible. The claimants allege that the officers' grounds for arriving at the claimants' home was a mere pretext for their search of the location and they contend that Jamel Taylor did not voluntarily consent to the search.1
After a thorough and careful review of the Memorandum and Recommendation, the objections submitted by the claimants, and the entire record on this matter, this court finds that the recommendation of the Magistrate Judge is, in all respects, in accordance with the law and should be approved. Therefore, the court hereby adopts the Memorandum and Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge as its own.
Accordingly, the court finds that the evidence confiscated during a warrantless search of the claimants' residence was performed pursuant to a valid search of the premises. The court hereby DENIES the claimants' motion to suppress. The court GRANTS the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. The defendant property is thereby FORFEITED to the United States of America. The court hereby ADOPTS the recommendations of the United States of America presented in its Response to Claimants' Objection to Magistrates Proposed Findings and Recommendation in that (1) the United States Marshal in conjuncture with the United States Department of Treasury shall SEIZE the defendant property; (2) the United States Marshals Service and the United States Department of Treasury are to provide the occupants of the defendant real property thirty (30) days to vacate the premises; (3) the United States Marshals Service and the United States Department of Treasury may enter into an "occupancy agreement" with the occupants of the defendant real property which allows the occupants to agree to a routine inspection of the defendant real property by law enforcement with prior notice, but without the necessity of a search warrant; and (4) the United States Marshals Service and the United States Department of Treasury shall dispose of the defendant property in the appropriate manner and in accordance with the law. Following seizure of the property, the clerk of the court is directed to close this case.
This matter is before the court on remand from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, to address the claimants' motion to suppress evidence and to address claimants' Eighth Amendment contention of a disproportionate penalty.
An evidentiary hearing was held on August 30 to September 9, 1994. The government was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Swaim. The claimants were represented by John A. Shorter, Jr., and John W. Copeland, Jr.
For the reasons set forth below, the claimants' motion to suppress evidence should be denied. After consideration of an Eighth Amendment excessive fine analysis, the court should order the forfeiture of the defendant property to the United States.
1. Trooper Michael E. Lane of the North Carolina Highway Patrol testified at the hearing, and the court found his testimony credible. On April 15, 1990, Trooper Lane stopped a van on Highway 581 near Wilson, NC, being driven by claimant James Ronson Taylor. Trooper Lane stopped Mr. Taylor for driving left of center and for suspicion of driving while impaired. Lane asked Taylor to step out of the van to perform sobriety tests, which Taylor passed. However, during the stop, Trooper Lane found a Walther PPK-380 handgun concealed in a door pocket of the van. Trooper Lane cited Mr. Taylor for driving left of center and for carrying a concealed weapon.
2. Both of the charges against Mr. Taylor were dismissed by the prosecuting attorney on July 5, 1990. The Walther handgun had been, and continued to be, in the possession of the Highway Patrol, Troop C, in Wilson, North Carolina.
3. Over the next sixteen months, Trooper Lane attempted to notify Mr. Taylor several times, in person and by telephone, that the gun could be picked up at the Highway Patrol office, and would be released to Mr. Taylor only upon Mr. Taylor's signing a returned-property receipt. Mr. Taylor did not seek to have his weapon returned to him.
4. On September 8, 1991, Sergeant C.H. Mercer of the Highway Patrol ordered Trooper Lane to take the gun and a receipt to Mr. Taylor's residence and return the weapon to him. Sergeant Mercer also testified at the hearing and the court found his testimony credible. Trooper Lane left the Highway Patrol office and went to the Wilson County Sheriff's Department office. There, he enlisted the assistance of Sergeant Levi Williams of the Sheriff's Department, to accompany him to the Taylor residence. The two drove in Lane's marked vehicle to 1699 Bynwood Circle in Wilson, the residence of claimant James Ronson Taylor, and arrived there at approximately 9:15 p.m.
5. Sergeant Williams also testified at the hearing and the court found his testimony credible. Both he and Lane testified that Trooper Lane drove into and parked in the Taylors' driveway in front of the house. From the car, both Lane and Sgt. Williams saw, through a large picture window in the front of the house, two people apparently sitting at a table. Sgt. Williams saw one person get up and leave the room after Lane pulled the car into the driveway. The vertical blinds for the front window were partly open, and the lights inside the room were on.
6. Trooper Lane and Sgt. Williams walked to the front door, opened an outer storm door, and knocked on the inner solid door. A black male partly opened the door. Trooper Lane identified himself and Sgt. Williams, and asked to see James Ronson Taylor. The black male who had opened the door identified himself as James Ronson Taylor. Trooper Lane said that the reason they were there was to return Mr. Taylor's weapon, which Lane showed to Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor made a remark either about going to get his wife or about putting his dog outdoors, asked Lane and Williams to wait, and closed the inner and outer doors. The inner door...
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