US v. Gerena
| Citation | 662 F. Supp. 1218 |
| Decision Date | 03 June 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. Cr. H-85-50 (TEC).,Cr. H-85-50 (TEC). |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. Victor Manuel GERENA, et al. |
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Albert S. Dabrowski, Carmen E. Van Kirk, John A. Danaher, III, Stanley A. Twardy, Jr., U.S. Attys., David D. Buvinger, William J. Corcoran, Trial Attys., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Hartford, Conn., for plaintiff.
Juan R. Acevedo, Hartford, Conn., for Norman Ramirez Talavera.
Harold Meyerson, New York City, for Ivonne Melendez Carrion.
Diane Polan, New Haven, Conn., for Elias Castro Ramos.
James Bergenn, Shipman & Goodwin, Hartford, Conn., for Carlos Ayes-Suarez.
Richard Reeve, Asst. Federal Public Defender, New Haven, Conn., for Isaac Camacho-Negron.
Linda Backiel, Philadelphia, Pa., for Antonio Camacho Negron.
Leonard I. Weinglass, New York City, for Juan E. Segarra-Palmer.
William M. Kunstler, New York City, for Fiiberto Ojeda Rios.
Michael Avery, Avery & Friedman, Boston, Mass., for Jorge Farinacci Garcia.
Margaret P. Levy, Hartford, Conn., for Angel Diaz Ruiz.
Michael Deutsch, Chicago, Ill., for Orlando Gonzalez Claudio.
John Williams, New Haven, Conn., for Hilton Fernandez-Diamante.
Ronald L. Kuby, New York City, for Luis Colon Osorio.
Robert J. Maldonado-Rivera, Rio Piedras, P.R., pro se.
Jacob Wieselman, Hartford, Conn., for Luz Berrios-Berrios.
RULING ON THE DEFENDANTS' "STANDING" TO CHALLENGE THE ADMISSABILITY OF EVIDENCE SEIZED AT SUITE 301, 210 PONCE DE LEON AVENUE, PUERTA DE TIERRA; EL CENTRO CONDOMINIUM, SUITE 249, BUILDING I, MUNOZ RIVERA AND LA HIJA DEL CARIBE STREETS, HATO REY; AND COOPERATIVA LOS ROBLES, APARTMENT 1012A, VILLA NEVAREZ, RIO PIEDRAS, PUERTO RICO
The defendants in this case, with the exception of Paul Weinberg, each claim standing to challenge the legality of searches conducted at 1) Suite 301, 210 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Puerta de Tierra, Puerto Rico (hereinafter "Ponce de Leon"); 2) El Centro Condominium, Suite 249, Building 1, Munoz Rivera and La Hija del Caribe Streets, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico (hereinafter "El Centro"); and 3) Cooperativa Los Robles, Apartment 1012A, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico (hereinafter "Apartment 1012A"). Each defendant, with the exception of Paul Weinberg, claims to have had, at the time of each search, a legitimate, reasonable expectation of privacy in each of these locations. The Court finds, however, 1) that only the defendant Filiberto Ojeda Rios has made out a colorable standing claim with regard to the Ponce de Leon premises;1 2) that all of the other defendants have failed to adequately allege the existence of legitimate expectations of privacy in each of the three locations at issue; and 3) that defendant Ojeda Rios has also failed to adequately allege the existence of such an interest with regard to the El Centro condominium and Apartment 1012A.
Suite 301, 210 Ponce de Leon Avenue is a two-room "office" located in a multi-story commercial building in a business sector of Puerta de Tierra, Puerto Rico. Government agents searched this location on April 3, 1984 pursuant to a warrant. The El Centro Condominium is likewise a suite of rooms located in a multi-story commercial structure in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. Apartment 1012A is a multi-room apartment located in a residential building in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico and is the home of non-defendant Sylvia Mulling Cowert. Government agents searched the apartment, as well as the El Centro condominium pursuant to a warrant on August 30, 1985.
The present indictment charges the defendants with various illegal acts associated with the September 12, 1983 robbery of the Wells Fargo Depot in West Hartford, Connecticut. More specifically, the indictment charges the defendants with, among other things, participation in various conspiracies to commit numerous illegal acts, including the robbery itself, and the transportation of stolen monies across state and national boundaries. The Government represents that it will use items seized at the three locations cited above as part of its case-in-chief. The defendants object to the intended introduction of this evidence, challenging the legality of the searches and seizures on a variety of grounds. The issue raised by the Government and addressed in this ruling is whether the defendants have Fourth Amendment "standing" to challenge the use of this evidence at trial.
The defendants have filed a number of documents setting out their various standing claims. As permitted by Rule 12(c), the Court originally required all defendants to file their suppression motions by December 22, 1986, stating specifically that "all defendants shall ... file all remaining substantive motions, including but not limited to motions regarding ... (c) the alleged illegality of certain searches and seizures conducted against the defendants...." Modified Pretrial Scheduling Order, signed October 29, 1986, p. 2. Several defendants, both individually and on behalf of various co-defendants, filed motions and memoranda discussing various defendants' privacy interests in the Ponce de Leon, El Centro, and Apartment 1012A locations. These focused largely on the defendants' legal arguments surrounding their "collective" or "corporate" standing theories. For example, with regard to the Ponce de Leon location one defendant filed the following:
Defendants do not offer separate documentary proof of the invasion of their rights to privacy at Suite 301. As noted in the affidavit of counsel, numerous warrants for electronic surveillance and physical searches have been based upon sworn statements by government agents asserting their custody and ownership of organizational files, distribution lists, minutes of meetings, publications and tangible objects. There is nothing in any of the government's sworn documents or testimony to suggest that defendants used this location with anything other than the expectation that they would enjoy the utmost privacy there. The government can hardly now disavow those sworn statements.
Defendants' Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion to Suppress Evidence, dated December 22, 1986, p. 19 (emphasis added). Counsel argued in court that the defendants intend to rely on a "corporate" or "collective" standing theory to establish standing for each defendant in the locations at issue. Some defendants, however, also argued that they wished to pursue individual standing claims not encompassed by the defendants' "corporate" theory.
Thus, some defendants submitted more particularized accounts of the nature of his or her specific privacy interest in each location. See Supplemental Memorandum of Defendant Jorge Farinacci Garcia, filed December 23, 1986. Others argued that they wished to reserve the right to file such claims in the future in the event that their "corporate" standing theory proved to be unavailing. See e.g. Defendants' Joint Motion to Reserve Right to Move to Suppress, filed December 22, 1986 (reservation of right to challenge search of Apartment 1012A).
The Court, 1) wishing to give the defendants the opportunity to more fully present standing claims; 2) recognizing the need for greater clarification of the particular claim(s) of each individual defendant; 3) wishing to resolve the standing issues in a fair and expeditious manner; and 4) seeking to elicit a detailed, particularized factual response from each defendant so as (a) to permit the Government to respond to each defendant's claim and (b) to enable the Court to determine the precise questions at issue and the need for further hearings, signed a supplemental order on January 30, 1987, which directed:
Due to the important nature of "standing" issues; the interest in clarifying these issues; and the interest in avoiding prolonging the present suppression hearings unnecessarily, each defendant is hereby required to submit specific allegations of "standing" for each and every location and vehicle the physical search of which he or she challenges. Each individual defendant's allegation(s) of "standing", whether based upon an individual or collective interest in the location or vehicle searched, must specify the exact nature of the interest(s) upon which the individual defendant's allegation(s) of "standing" is based, including any and all factual allegations supporting the individual defendant's "standing" claim.
Preliminary Ruling on Defendants' "Standing" to Seek Suppression, January 30, 1987, p. 2 (emphasis added). The Court allowed the defendants until February 17, 1987 to make their particularized submissions. Id. at 2. See United States v. Purvis, 544 F.Supp. 68, 69 (S.D.N.Y.1982) ().
It is clear that the defendants understood that this order required of them to submit individual, detailed allegations with regard to their personal expectations of privacy in the locations at issue. Transcript of February 5, 1987, pp. 171-72, 182-83 (remarks of Attorney Avery). It is equally clear that defendants understood that each bears the burden of establishing "that his or her relationship to the premises searched was such that he or she would have a reasonable expectation of privacy there." Id. at 142 (remarks of Attorney Avery). In this regard, each defendant has submitted a statement setting forth the specifics of his or her individual claim. To a large extent, these submissions address the extent to which each defendant claims a "corporate" standing interest in the locations at issue. However, at least one defendant filed a particularized, individual, non-corporate claim. See Supplemental Affidavit in Support of Motion to Suppress, filed January 29, 1987 (affidavit of Filiberto Ojeda Rios...
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