United States v. Johnson
United States v. Johnson
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
I. INTRODUCTION
On January 14, 2016, a federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment charging Defendant Braheem Johnson, in Counts One, Two, and Three, with distribution of a controlled substance in violation of 21 U.S.C, § 841(a)(1), in Count Four with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), in Count Five with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), and in Count Six with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A).
On February 5, 2016, Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence discovered after the execution of a search warrant obtained on May 12, 2015, which he asserts was illegally obtained. In accordance with the following analysis, the Defendant’s motion to suppress is denied.
II.BACKGROUND
During the spring of 2015, the Lycoming County Narcotics Enforcement Unit began investigating Defendant for the distribution of heroin in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The investigation consisted of controlled drug purchases on three separated occasions by a confidential informant. Specifically, the confidential informant purchased heroin from Defendant on April 10, 2015, May 4, 2015, and May 12, 2015. The first heroin purchase occurred in the area of Scott and Stevens Streets in the City of Williamsport, the second purchase occurred in the area of Stevens Street, and the third purchase occurred in the area of Rose Street.
The following protocol was followed in each controlled purchase: the confidential informant met with police and made a recorded phone call to Defendant to arrange a meeting place, the informant was searched, given pre-recorded money and a “body-wire” attached, and the informant then proceeded to the agreed upon location where police were ideally positioned to
In addition to the three controlled drug sales, the investigating. officers observed Defendant exit a residence at 416 Berger Street on two separate occasions, once on May 8, 2015 and again on May 12, 2015, the same day the third controlled drug sale was conducted. That same day, Detective Matthew J. Keller of the Lycoming County Narcotics Enforcement Unit presented an Affidavit of Probable Cause (hereinafter “the affidavit”) in support of a search warrant to search the second floor apartment of a Williamsport residence located at 416 Berger Street. The search warrant was signed and executed later that day, yielding a .22 caliber revolver, controlled substances, and paraphernalia, evidence which Defendant now seeks to suppress.
III. DISCUSSION
Defendant contends that the search warrant lacked probable cause to believe that contraband or evidence of a crime would be found at the apartment at 416 Berger Street. Defendant argues that the Affidavit of Probable Cause failed to offer any evidence that 416 Berger Street was the dom-idle of Defendant or that contraband would be found at that address,
In reviewing a magistrate judge’s issuance of a warrant, a court’s only duty is to ensure that the magistrate judge had a “substantial basis” to determine that probable cause existed.
To determine probable cause to issue a search warrant,' á magistrate judge must determine whether, “given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him ... there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.”
1) the person suspected of drug dealing is actually a drug dealer; (2) that the place to be searched is possessed by, or the domicile of, the dealer; and (3) that the home contains contraband linking it to the dealer’s drug activities.5
A finding of probable cause “can be based on an accumulation of circumstantial evidence that together indicates a fair probability of the presence of contraband at the home of the arrested.”
Defendant concedes that the first factor is met based on the three sales of heroin to the confidential informant.
Additionally, the Government contends that even if there was not sufficient evidence to establish factors two and three, Defendant’s motion to suppress should be denied because the police acted in good faith in their reliance upon the warrant’s authority to search 416 Berger Street.
1. Probable cause for the search warrant
Specifically, the affidavit states that during each of the three controlled drug sales, noted above, Defendant designated the meeting location at which the confidential informant would meet him.
In U.S. v. Thornton,
2. Good faith exception
Even if the affidavit lacked sufficient evidence to establish probable cause, the police acted in good faith on relying on the warrant. “Pursuant to the good faith exception, if an officer obtains a warrant and executes it in good faith, ‘a court should not suppress evidence seized under [the] warrant’s authority, even if it was subsequently invalidated ... ’ ”
(1) [when] the magistrate [judge] .issued the warrant in reliance on a deliberately or recklessly false affidavit;
(2) [when] the magistrate [judge] abandoned his judicial role and failed to perform his neutral and detached function;
(3) [when] the warrant was based on an affidavit ‘so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable’; or
(4)[when] the warrant was so facially deficient that it failed to particularize the place to be searched or the things to be seized.21
In the instant matter, Defendant argues that the affidavit was so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable.
The affidavit in question contains almost eleven pages of information establishing probable cause. The information provided to the magistrate judge includes information about the experience and background of the officer submitting the affidavit, detailed descriptions of each of the controlled drug transaction, and pages of background information on the subject. The affidavit also links the Defendant to 416 Berger Street and states that the Defendant was seen exiting the residence pri- or to the third controlled drug sale. This affidavit clearly contained more than a bare bones assertion that evidence would be found. And evidence, of course, was found.
IV. CONCLUSION
In accordance with the foregoing reasoning, Defendant’s motion to suppress the
ORDER
AND NOW, in accordance with the Memorandum of this same date, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT: Defendant’s Motion to Suppress Evidence is DENIED (EOF No. 31).
. See Jones v. U.S., 362 U.S. 257, 271, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1960).
. Spinelli v. U.S., 393 U.S. 410, 419, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969).
. Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983).
. U.S. v. Burton, 288 F.3d 91, 104 (3d Cir. 2002) (citing U.S. v. Hodge, 246 F.3d 301, 305 (3d Cir. 2001); U.S. v. Whitner, 219 F.3d 289, 297 (3d Cir. 2000); U.S. v. Conley, 4 F.3d 1200, 1207 (3d Cir. 1993); U.S. v. Jones, 994 F.2d 1051, 1056 (3d Cir. 1993)).
. Burton, 288 F.3d at 104.
. Id. at 103.
. ECF No. 32 at 6.
. Id. at 6-7.
. ECF No. 33 at 2.
. Id. at 3.
. ECF No. 34 at 4.
. ECF No. 33-1 at 9-10.
. Id. The Government argues that all three designated meeting locations were within walking distance of 416 Berger Street, leading to the conclusion that there was probable cause that 416 Berger Street was Defendant’s residence. While the streets where the meeting locations took place were identified in the affidavit, however, their proximity to 416 Berger Street was not specified. Therefore, the magistrate judge did not have that information in making his finding of probable cause.
. Id. at 10.
. Id. at 10.
. Id. at Search Warrant.
. 559 Fed.Appx. 176, 179 (3d Cir. 2014).
. U.S. v. Brewer, 2015 WL 2250150, *5 (M.D. Pa. May 12, 2015)(citing U.S. v. Stearn, 597 F.3d 540, 561 (3d Cir. 2010)).
. U.S. v. Hodge, 246 F.3d 301, 307-08 (3d Cir. 2001).
. U.S. v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 922 n. 23, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984).
. Hodge, 246 F.3d at 308 (citing U.S. v. Williams, 3 F.3d 69, 74 (3d Cir. 1993)).
. ECF No. 34.
. Leon, 468 U.S. at 926, 104 S.Ct. 3405.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- United States v. Braheem JOHNSON
- Status
- Published