US v. Doe

• Citation: 801 F. Supp. 1562
• Decision Date: 24 July 1992
• Docket Number: No. 6:92 CR 2.,6:92 CR 2.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. Frederick DOE.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Texas

801 F. Supp. 1562

UNITED STATES of America v. Frederick DOE.

No. 6:92 CR 2.

United States District Court, E.D. Texas, Tyler Division.

July 24, 1992.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Tonda Curry, Asst. U.S. Atty., Tyler, Tex., for plaintiff.

Jeff L. Haas, Tyler, Tex., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JUSTICE, District Judge.

On the evening of March 30, 1991, defendant was traveling northbound in an automobile on U.S. Highway 69. He was returning to his residence in Tyler, Texas, from a day long visit to his aunt in the Houston area, accompanied by two friends, Kelvin Williams and Roderick Kellum. All three vehicle occupants were African-American juveniles. Defendant was operating a maroon and black Chevrolet Z-28 Camaro, and had just driven the car into a Chevron "Fast Fill" station located in Rusk, Texas, approximately one-half mile north of the intersection of U.S. 69 and U.S. 84. Rusk Police Department Patrol Officer Otis Crow was riding that evening with reserve officer Kurt Nolan. Crow had observed defendant make a "rolling stop" at the intersection of U.S. 69 and U.S. 84. Officer Crow stopped his vehicle in front of the defendant's car, which was parked parallel to the curb in front of the convenience store. After a series of events that are in dispute, Officer Crow obtained from defendant's vehicle a large amount of cocaine, a firearm, and a box of ammunition. Defendant argues the evidence seized from his vehicle cannot be admitted without violating the Fourth Amendment.

I. Procedural History

This is a federal juvenile delinquency proceeding governed by 18 U.S.C. §§ 5031-5042 (1992). "Juvenile delinquency" is the violation of a law of the United States committed by a person prior to his eighteenth birthday, which would have been a crime if committed by an adult person. 18 U.S.C. § 5031. Federal juvenile proceedings must occur in an appropriate district court, which may be convened at any time or place within the district, in chambers, or otherwise. 18 U.S.C. § 5032. On January 21, 1992, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas filed, under seal, an information against the defendant, Frederick Doe.¹ The two-count information charged him with a violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (conspiracy to violate a controlled substance law) and 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute).

After several postponements,² Doe's juvenile delinquency hearing was scheduled for April 27, 1992. Although defendant did not file a motion to suppress until the day of trial, the government had previously been apprised of the defendant's intention to move for suppression, and had agreed to combine the suppression hearing with the juvenile delinquency adjudication, since both were to be tried before the court without a jury. But for the absence of a jury, the delinquency proceeding was conducted in the same manner as any criminal case,³ although considerable time was spent upon the issues raised by defendant's suppression motion. Only the government introduced evidence at the hearing.

For the reasons articulated below, it is concluded that all of the evidence offered against the defendant at his juvenile delinquency proceeding was obtained as a result of a search and seizure conducted in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Without the illegally obtained evidence, the government cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant committed an act of juvenile delinquency, as is required by In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 368, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 1075, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970), and United States v. De Leon, 768 F.2d 629, 631 (5th Cir.1985). In the usual case, the government would be afforded the opportunity to appeal an adverse decision on a motion to suppress before the conclusion of trial. 18 U.S.C. § 3731. However, the trial in this case has already been held. To avoid any possible violation of the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment, and in the interests of justice, no judgment of acquittal will be entered at this time. Rather, the government will be given thirty days from the entry of the order granting suppression to file a notice of appeal. Fed. R.App.P. 4(a). If no appeal is taken within such time, or the appeal notice is subsequently dismissed, a judgment of acquittal will be entered.

II. Application of the Exclusionary Rule to Juvenile Proceedings

A. No Federal Case Has Determined Whether the Rule Applies

While no federal court has addressed directly the exclusionary rule's application to juvenile delinquency proceedings,⁴ the Supreme Court has extended the search and seizure protections of the Fourth Amendment to juveniles. New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 333, 105 S.Ct. 733, 738, 83 L.Ed.2d 720 (1985). The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has held that the Fourth Amendment requires that a juvenile arrested without a warrant be provided a Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 95 S.Ct. 854, 43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975), probable cause hearing. Moss v. Weaver, 525 F.2d 1258, 1259-60 (5th Cir.1976). Thus, it is manifest that the Fourth Amendment applies to juveniles. See also Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U.S. 365, 374, 106 S.Ct. 2574, 2582, 91 L.Ed.2d 305 (1986) (Fourth Amendment is not a trial right; its protections pertain to all). Whether its guarantees should be enforced by means of the exclusionary rule is a separate question. T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 333 n. 3, 105 S.Ct. at 738 n. 3.

In United States v. Sechrist, 640 F.2d 81 (7th Cir.1981), the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit adjudicated a motion to suppress evidence filed in the course of a juvenile delinquency proceeding. The appellate tribunal apparently presumed the exclusionary rule would have applied, but it perceived no Fourth Amendment violation. 640 F.2d at 86-87. Likewise, in evaluating a juvenile's motion to suppress statements allegedly elicited in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit implicitly accepted that suppression was possible, but found no violation. United States v. Indian Boy X, 565 F.2d 585, 592 (9th Cir.1977), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 841, 99 S.Ct. 131, 58 L.Ed.2d 139 (1978).

All state courts to have considered this issue have concluded that the exclusionary rule applies in juvenile delinquency adjudications, and evidence obtained by means of unlawful searches conducted by police officers is inadmissible. The Supreme Court of California in In re Scott K., 24 Cal.3d 395, 155 Cal.Rptr. 671, 595 P.2d 105, cert. denied, 444 U.S. 973, 100 S.Ct. 468, 62 L.Ed.2d 388 (1979), reversed a juvenile delinquency finding because the evidence against the juvenile had been seized illegally. The Justices held that juveniles are entitled to the "enforcement of search and seizure protections to help ensure that the factfinding process conforms with the standards of due process." Id., 155 Cal.Rptr. at 675, 595 P.2d at 109. The Supreme Court of Illinois has also commanded that juveniles have a right to invoke the exclusionary rule in juvenile proceedings. In re Marsh, 40 Ill.2d 53, 237 N.E.2d 529 (1969). Lower level appellate courts have reached the same result in six other states.⁵

B. The Exclusionary Rule Should Apply to Juvenile Delinquency Adjudication Hearings

1. The Nature of Juvenile Delinquency Adjudications

"Determining the relevance of constitutional policies, like determining the applicability of constitutional rights, in juvenile proceedings, requires that the courts eschew `the "civil" label-of-convenience which has been attached to juvenile proceedings,' and that the juvenile process ... be candidly appraised." Breed v. Jones, 421 U.S. 519, 529, 95 S.Ct. 1779, 1785, 44 L.Ed.2d 346 (1975) (citations omitted). In In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 18 L.Ed.2d 527 (1967), the Court ruled that the rights of counsel, confrontation, and cross-examination, and the privilege against self-incrimination applied because the likely consequences of a juvenile delinquency proceeding were the same as those of a criminal trial: incarceration in a state institution. 387 U.S. at 36, 49-50, 87 S.Ct. at 1448, 1455 ("To hold otherwise would be to disregard substance because of the feeble enticement of the `civil' label-of-convenience which has been attached to juvenile proceedings").

In the quarter century since Gault, the Court has not retreated from its recognition that the potential penalties for being adjudicated a juvenile delinquent are on par with those resulting from a criminal conviction: "That the purpose of the commitment is rehabilitative and not punitive ... does not change its nature.... Regardless of the purposes for which the incarceration is imposed, the fact remains that it is incarceration." Breed v. Jones, 421 U.S. at 530 n. 12, 95 S.Ct. at 1786 n. 12 (citation omitted). Cf. Allen v. Illinois, 478 U.S. 364, 373-74, 106 S.Ct. 2988, 2994, 92 L.Ed.2d 296 (1986) (proceedings that could result in commitment of a sex offender to a psychiatric hospital for treatment are not "criminal").

The applicable due process standard in juvenile proceedings is "fundamental fairness". In re Gault, 387 U.S. at 19-20, 30, 87 S.Ct. at 1439, 1445. The United States Supreme Court, in cases since Gault, has blurred the distinctions between juvenile delinquency proceedings and adult criminal proceedings by imposing those aspects of a criminal trial required by fundamental fairness. E.g., In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970) ("beyond a reasonable doubt" standard of proof required in juvenile process when the youth's act would be a crime if committed by an adult); Breed v. Jones, 421 U.S. at 529, 95 S.Ct. at 1785 (double jeopardy prohibition applies to juvenile proceedings). See also Bahr, supra note 3.

On the other hand, the Court has not imposed the "formalities of the criminal adjudicative process" on the juvenile system....