US v. Spotts

• Decision Date: 15 May 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-3741,00-3741
• Citation: 275 F.3d 714
• Parties: (8th Cir. 2002) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, RESPONDENT - APPELLEE, v. BRIAN E. SPOTTS, PETITIONER - APPELLANT. Submitted:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 714

275 F.3d 714 (8th Cir. 2002)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, RESPONDENT - APPELLEE, v. BRIAN E. SPOTTS, PETITIONER - APPELLANT.

No. 00-3741

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

Submitted: May 15, 2001

Filed: January 3, 2002

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before Loken, John R. Gibson, and Murphy, Circuit Judges.

John R. Gibson, Circuit Judge

Nebraska police stopped Brian Spotts's truck as he drove by a residence that DEA agents were searching for a methamphetamine lab. The police had seen the truck at the same residence the night before, one of a series of suspicious visitors, and they had reports that Spotts dealt methamphetamine. A bag of methamphetamine and a pistol were plainly visible inside the stopped truck. The officers' discovery of these items prompted Spotts to make incriminating statements. Spotts pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (1994), and possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) (1994) (now 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A) (Supp. V 1999)), but retained the right to appeal the district court's ¹ order ruling that the evidence obtained from the stop of his vehicle was admissible at trial. Spotts argues that the district court should have suppressed the evidence because the stop was not supported by the reasonable suspicion required by Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968), and its progeny. We affirm the district court's order.

I.

The stop at issue took place on the street outside the Hughes residence on First Street in North Platte, Nebraska. Police had arrived there some hours earlier to perform a warrant-supported search of the Hughes premises. Spotts was not mentioned in the search warrant, but his vehicle was seen at the property on the night before the search. Both the search and the surveillance that preceded it are therefore circumstances relevant to whether the police reasonably could have suspected Spotts of wrongdoing when they stopped him. See United States v. Robinson, 119 F.3d 663, 667 (8th Cir. 1997) (upholding validity of Terry stop of vehicle, due in part to police observations of suspected drug house next to which defendant stopped his car).

We state the facts as recited in the magistrate judge's report and recommendation, which the district court adopted in full, and from the district court's opinion, which made additional findings. In addition, where the court below made no findings on a given factual matter we take note of record evidence that is uncontradicted. See, e.g., Solfanelli v. Corestates Bank, N.A., 203 F.3d 197, 200-01 (3d Cir. 1999); Holt v. Winpisinger, 811 F.2d 1532, 1539 (D.C. Cir. 1987).

L. P. Yonkey, a Nebraska state trooper, lived near the Hughes house. On September 26, 1997, Yonkey noticed a strong smell of ether while standing in his back yard. The smell recurred on three out of the next four nights, seeming to arise at times when the lights were on in a garage on the Hughes property.

Yonkey told the state police of his observations. A second officer, Investigator Gary Eng, arrived to investigate shortly after midnight on September 30. Eng, too, noticed an ether smell that seemed to come from the Hughes garage. Since he knew that a step in the manufacture of methamphetamine involves ether, Eng suspected the presence of a methamphetamine lab. At one point on that night, the officers saw several men standing outside in the Hughes back yard smoking cigarettes, a detail Eng also considered pertinent because ether is highly flammable, making those who operate a methamphetamine lab take care not to bring lit cigarettes near the "works."

The police put the Hughes premises under formal surveillance on October 1, 1997. In the course of that day and night they saw several cars drive into a narrow street, or alley, behind the Hughes garage, stop briefly, and then drive on within minutes. During one stop, the police saw Joe Hughes, one of the residents, emerge from the house and accept cash from a vehicle's driver. The police concluded that this exchange looked like a drug transaction.

Another visitor later that night drove a two-colored Blazer truck, which also stopped in the alley behind the garage. A check of the Blazer's license plate number established that it was registered to Spotts. Shortly after the truck drove up, the officers observed Spotts standing in the alley next to the truck. Spotts bent down and shone a light underneath his vehicle. He then got back in the truck and drove away. Spotts stayed for only a few minutes. The officers did not see him enter the Hughes house or garage or speak with anyone from the house.

At the time the Blazer made its first appearance at the Hughes property, the police possessed several "intelligence reports" stating that Spotts was distributing methamphetamine in the North Platte area. Informants had also reported that Spotts carried a 9mm handgun.

On the basis of these observations, the officers obtained a warrant to search the Hughes garage and house for a methamphetamine lab and other controlled substances. They executed the search warrant on the evening of October 2, 1997, with the aid of federal DEA agents. A specialized DEA lab team made the initial entry. Its investigation of the site took a substantial amount of time. As a result of the search, the police seized a small amount of marijuana from the house, as well as two scales, several pipes, and a forceps. They found no methamphetamine, nor did they find a methamphetamine lab in the garage. The police report on the search, admitted as evidence at Spotts's suppression hearing, contains a statement that the garage smelled of ether at the time of the search and that Joe Hughes's hands were discolored with what an officer identified as "red phospherus [sic] stains."

Approximately three hours after the search began, Spotts's truck returned to the scene. Spotts stopped at a stop sign, then turned on to First Street. He drove down the street at a relatively slow speed, passing in front of the Hughes property. Investigator Eng and two uniformed Nebraska troopers were standing in front of the house. When they recognized Spotts's truck from the previous night's watch, the officers waved a flashlight and signaled Spotts to stop. Spotts did so, then opened the door of his truck. The officers asked Spotts to get out of the truck. One of the officers then peered into the vehicle's interior through the open door. A plastic bag of light-colored brownish powder was visible on the floor board, as was a 9mm gun tucked into the side of the driver's seat. The officers seized these items and arrested Spotts. He later gave a detailed confession admitting that he owned the gun and was involved in selling methamphetamine.

II.

The Fourth Amendment permits police to make an investigative stop of a vehicle if they have a "reasonable suspicion that the vehicle or its occupants are involved in criminal activity." United States v. Bell, 183 F.3d 746, 749 (8th Cir. 1999). Police must have a "particularized and objective basis" for suspecting criminal activity at the time the stop is made, United States v. Thomas, 249 F.3d 725, 729 (8th Cir. 2001) (quoting Ornales v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 696 (1996)), but the standard employed is less demanding than the standard of probable cause that governs arrests and full-scale Fourth Amendment searches, both with respect to the amount oF.Supp.orting information that is required to establish reasonable suspicion and with respect to the degree of reliability that the information must exhibit. Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 330 (1990).

We review de novo the question whether the facts in Spotts's case add up to reasonable suspicion. Robinson, 119 F.3d at 666. We review for clear error the factual findings of the district court, Thomas, 249 F.3d at 728, including the findings of the magistrate judge, whose report the district court adopted. See United States v. McClinton, 982 F.2d 278, 279 (8th Cir. 1992).

The validity of an investigatory stop under the Fourth Amendment turns on the detailed facts of the case at hand. We must consider "the totality of circumstances - the whole picture." United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417 (1981).

The government emphasizes the similarities between this case and Robinson, where we upheld an investigatory vehicle stop that was likewise justified by the defendant's visit to a suspicious residence and the existence of tips. In Robinson the police stopped the defendant's car as he was driving away from a known crack house. The police had an arrest warrant for one of the residents and warrants to search the house itself. Id. at 665. The police also observed apparent drug sales on the premises: cars pulled up briefly in front of the house, exchanged something with one of the residents, and left. Robinson then drove up to the suspect house, left his car, and walked toward the residence, though the police could not see whether he entered it. The police recognized Robinson as a past drug offender with a criminal history. A reliable informant had also informed them that Robinson had recently made a large drug purchase. Two minutes later Robinson returned to his car and left. The police stopped Robinson in his car shortly after he left and found crack cocaine on his person. Id. at 665-66. We held that "[a]ll of this information created a reasonable and articulable suspicion that [Robinson] had just engaged in a drug transaction," and so upheld the admissibility of the evidence gained from the vehicle stop. Id. at 667.

Several of the elements held to justify the stop in Robinson are present in this case. Here, the police stopped Spotts's truck ² when he appeared (a second time) at a house that was under surveillance for suspected drug activity, and where the police had previously witnessed at least one apparent drug sale....