Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Charles E. Fitzwilliam,
______________________
United States.
brief for
____________________
January 25, 1994
____________________
Pedro
Infante
District Court
having knowingly
After
in
of Puerto
a fugitive
in interstate
and 924(a).
indicted
received while
firearm transported
922(g)(2)
Ruiz was
Defendant-
commerce.
the district
the United
Rico for
from justice
18 U.S.C.
court
denied a
ruling.
Infante
duly
warrant
from
Florida
on
Infante on an
federal
narcotics
was eventually
under arrest.
restrained and
Infante resisted
placed
inside a
nearby
of
the
arresting
officers,
Sergeant
David
a Felipe de
la
-2-
De la Paz verbally
gave his
consent, and Sgt. Padilla searched the passenger compartment.
asked de la Paz
Although
the car's
ask for de
stood by
briefcases,
De la
was the
one
brown
and one
black,
owner of
the brown
were
Padilla,
briefcase.
Sgt.
briefcase, apparently
briefcase.
Infante.
then asked de
De la
la Paz
Paz answered
who owned
that it
the
belonged to
for de la Paz's
consent,
but without any express objection from him, Sgt. Padilla then
opened the unlocked
Inside
a fugitive
from
interstate commerce.
justice
De la
firearm
transported
in
not arrested.
-3-
Infante
ruling,
suppress.
the
district
court
the
motion
to
denied
In an
been
suppressed.
II.
The district court upheld the warrantless search of
Infante's briefcase on
privacy interest
finding
that
its
the
weapon
would
court's denial of
findings
(1)
Infante's lack of
discovered; and
district
four grounds:
of
been
consent.
they
are
inevitably
In reviewing
a suppression motion,
fact unless
have
cause; (3) a
we uphold
clearly erroneous.
ultimate
plenary review,
Curzi, 867
_____
conclusion,
F.2d 36,
42 (1st Cir.
however,
is
subject
to
"[f]indings of
33 (1963).
determination of
We will,
Ker v. California,
___
__________
"where necessary to
the
an independent
-4-
examination of
the facts,
that
determine
[we] can
decision
as
to
constitutional
reasonableness
criteria
[ourselves]
the
the record
whether
in
fundamental
. . . have been
so
the
i.e.,
____
respected."
Id.
___
at 34.
Applying these
of
the
grounds
for
upholding the
search
offered
by the
district court.
A.
district
court
found
that
Infante
had
no
to deny the
suppression
motion.
The
that Infante
had left the unlocked briefcase in the trunk of the Mazda for
a period of some days, even when
that he allowed de la Paz
their
own inside
it.
district court
Infante had
no Fourth
Amendment
found that
the
of the defendant"
and
privacy rights
that
district court
cited no
authority, the
left at
the curb
warrant the
outside the
There, the
contents of
garbage
defendants' home.
The
-5-
Court
Id. at 40.
___
Court,
garbage bags
that
for
pick up
are
"readily
accessible to
animals,
children,
scavengers,
snoops,
and
The
suited for
public inspection
and
. .
an
.
facts
distinguishable from
in
this
Greenwood.
_________
that
Infante
Storing
had
items
the
briefcase,
not reveal a
relinquished
friends, the
While there is
to the
an intention
exclude those
betray
inside
availability
clearly
abandoned
belonging to Infante
evidence that
are
however,
case,
he
public generally
to forego
wished to
nor
an owner's
exclude.
-6-
to place
did his
actions
normal
right to
By the
time of
the
search, Infante
repudiate his
privacy
interest
in
the Mazda.
the
Infante did
briefcase
While he indicated
by
a
in no way
opened the
hold that
case to
public access.
We therefore
Probable Cause
______________
The district
either a
crime, or
other
matter that
may
lawfully be
container without
occupants were
warrant.
United
______
because Infante
was a
and that
here that
the other
trafficking in
drugs,
the police
that the
officers could
car's occupants
contraband or
weapons
have reasonably
were "dangerous
would
be in
believed
people" and
the
automobile.
that
The
-7-
district
court
supported
its
finding
by
saying
it
was
of
reasonable
justified.
required.
officer's
Id.
___
that
caution
to
the
persuade a
search
is
Practice and
Certainty is not
Id. at
___
suspected
the
Federal
But in the
enough.
believe
Wright,
suspicion or personal
exists is not
here
Charles Alan
Procedure: Criminal 2d
trustworthy information of
belief that
582.
vehicle
Thus it
contained
probable cause
was not enough
persons
with
government conceded at
officers who
information
Id. at 2664.
___
conducted the
that Infante
could
"conventional
Infante and
not
be satisfied
wisdom" or
by the
his associates.1
merely
had no
concrete
were transporting
The probable cause
by
dependence on
"dangerous" reputation
of
v. Harris,
______
____________________
1. A related argument for upholding the search, which the
government did not press below and waived on appeal, was that
the search was justified as incident to Infante's lawful
-8-
403
U.S. 573,
582
(1971)
(suspect's reputation,
standing
____________________
arrest under the warrant.
Court in
______
extended in this way.
-9-
C.
Inevitable Discovery
____________________
As
motion,
third
ground
for denying
the
suppression
Derringer pistol
court, because the Mazda was a rental car, the officers would
have taken custody of the car, and
be
inspected
inevitably
vehicle.
before
would have
On
the
vehicle was
been found
returned.
in the inspection
The gun
of the
is
to
of showing, by reference to
evidence,
to be
Amendment, warrantless
according
to
permissible
under the
standardized
procedures.
479
n. 6, 375
U.S.
1, 4-5
(1990).
be conducted
South Dakota
_____________
[must
v.
v. Bertine,
_______
(1987); Florida v.
_______
Any "discretion
Fourth
Wells, 495
_____
be] exercised
basis of something
-10-
other than
suspicion of
criminal activity."
Bertine,
_______
479
U.S. at 375.
The
government
cites
here.
United States v.
______________
Mancera________
In Mancera-Londo o,
_______________
the Ninth
Circuit
upheld
a warrantless search of
rented
the arrest of
transport drugs.
had been
that it was
The
court held
involved in the
suspects, as
apparently no
one else
the
car to
to
Id. at 376.
___
was available
the
rental
agency
after
complete
inventory of
the car."
according to
DEA
regarding
Manual
forfeiture.
"a
the
search
Id. at 375-76.
___
searching
officers
cars
seized
for
of
only, was,
Id.
___
be
containers
acting
during
pursuant
-11-
an
to
inventory
a
specific
search,
policy
In
of evidence that
that the
discovery of
government
has
not
court's finding
inevitable.
its burden
of
First, the
showing
that
the
for the
discovery
Jenkins, 876
_______
officers
F.2d 1085,
indeed would
the gun,
see
___
United States
_____________
1989), and
such custody
v.
that the
inevitably.
744 (1st Cir.
cases is
the use of
487
of
U.S.
connected with
only
(1988).
the vehicle
Infante
Mancera-Londo o,
_______________
were arrested.
a passenger
was
riding
of Infante to
and return
Here,
however,
Insofar as
it to the
both persons
arrested.
means and
rental company.
which he was
There was no
seized if the
found, or
that
without
impoundment
the
car
would
have
otherwise
See
___
-12-
Second,
the
and
government
actions were
standardized
failed to
controlled by
The
any
established
criteria,
as
supra.
_____
officer testified
No
required
introduce
government
search its
and return it
did
not
by
introduce
to the
into
no
officer
testified
of an inventory search,
that
regulations
testify
that
searches
were
certain
to
regulations
be
conducted
performed.
The
required the
officers to
from
the
officer
vehicle.
governed
when
testified
keep a
When
asked
how
they
that
inventory
in
the
fact
regulations
list of everything
if
he had
were
seized
followed
such
not.
making inevitable
the seizure
of
the car,
the
in light
failed
of the
fact
to comply with
that the
officers on
the scene
that did
-13-
of
showing
that
the
gun
would
have
been
inevitably
discovered.
D.
Consent
_______
The government
argues on appeal
and
the court's
Mazda, de
la
briefcase.
findings
Paz,
While
consented to
indicate that
consented to
there
a search
was
the
the driver
search
no evidence
of Infante's
of
that
of the
Infante's
de la
Paz
briefcase specifically,
de
. . ."
la
Paz's
briefcase located
consent
to
search
Infante's
While the
have us
closed
question is
briefcase search.
The evidence shows that de la Paz had access to the
briefcase for several days and
co-mingled
therefore, that de
if he in fact had
chosen
bag, in
leaving it at
consent
It appears,
allowing friend
to use
bag jointly
and in
to its search);
United States v.
_____________
-14-
164
(1974)
permissible
(search
when
authority over
based
where
diaper
on
bag
consent
in
of
bedroom
one
of
search of another
no evidence
of joint
common
Welch, 4 F.3d
_____
to consent to
there was
with
closet
car had no
occupant's purse
access to
or shared
was not
reasonable,
however,
for the
___, 111 S.
violation
when
officer
to open
Jimeno,
______
officer to
a car.
In
the vehicle
a paper bag
"objectively
consent to search
consent
not
container within
is
Fourth
a particular
it
1803 (1991), a
believe
consent to
Ct. 1801,
occurs
police
containers
the officer to
believe that
the
car
that
might
contain
drugs.
Id.
___
at
1804.
The Court
noted
that the
under suspicion
Id.
___
-15-
The instant
from Jimeno.
______
case is
distinguishable on
its facts
not notify de
to impute
to de
la Paz
consent to
search every
briefcase was
secured
inside
likely
consenting
unreasonable
to the
to
search of
think
the
Moreover,
locked
trunk
his trunk,
suspect,
has agreed
by
to the
would seem to
Infante's arrest
de la
to the
searched
the
Infante.
Even
did
not include
___
defendant's
statement
What leads
Paz's consent
briefcase, is that de
the car
furnishing of
qualified by de la
officer,
briefcase,
before
that
the
the
Paz's further
latter
briefcase
to search
opened
and
belonged
to
handcuffed in the
his
"objectively
briefcase.
We
reasonable," in
do
these
not
think
that
it
was
circumstances, for
the
-16-
officer to believe
consent to search
to
another
nearby
passenger.
De
la
Paz's
identification of
nearby
he
briefcase
passenger suggested
Jimeno, 111
______
as
the
was ambiguous
not clarified
belonging
precisely
the
to
another
contrary.
See
___
chooses
consents.").
as
the
scope
of
the
search
to
which
he
inquiry of de
both.
-17-
la Paz,
but was
Infante or
III.
As none of the grounds offered to uphold the search
of the
briefcase
survives analysis,
appellant's motion
to
reversed and
the judgment
vacated.
The
defendant may
-18-