United States v. Charles Ickes
Opinion
Charles Henry Ickes was convicted by a jury of multiple drug crimes, including a conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute the drug. He challenges the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence and the court's refusal to conduct an evidentiary hearing. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
I. BACKGROUND
A United States Postal Inspector had probable cause to believe that a package being shipped from California to Kentucky contained drugs. The inspector obtained a search warrant for the package and examined its contents. After discovering that the package contained approximately 1.5 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, the Postal Inspector and other law-enforcement agencies conducted a controlled delivery of the package and arrested the recipient. The recipient then agreed to serve as a confidential informant, identified *710 Ickes as the source of the methamphetamine, and provided additional evidence that correlated with Ickes's address in California. With this information, federal law-enforcement officers obtained a warrant to arrest Ickes.
Because of a prior drug-related conviction, Ickes was subject to state-court-ordered probation. His probation conditions included the following provision:
Defendant shall submit to search and seizure of his/her person, place of residence or area under his/her control, or vehicle, by any probation officer or peace officer, during the day or night, with or without his/her consent, with or without a search warrant, and without regard to probable cause.
Law-enforcement officers arrested Ickes when he arrived at a scheduled appointment with his probation officer. Later that day, the officers and Ickes's probation officer conducted a warrantless search of Ickes's residence and vehicle. They obtained evidence, including United States Postal Service labels and tracking information, that was used against Ickes at trial.
Ickes moved to suppress the evidence obtained from his residence and vehicle, arguing that the search was unconstitutional. The district court denied Ickes's motion without an evidentiary hearing. Ickes was then convicted by a jury, after which the court sentenced him to 280 months of imprisonment. In this appeal, Ickes argues that (1) the court should have suppressed the evidence obtained from the search, and (2) the court should have held an evidentiary hearing regarding his motion to suppress.
II. ANALYSIS
A. Standard of review
1. Motion to suppress evidence
When a defendant appeals the denial of a motion to suppress evidence, we review the district court's findings of fact under the clear-error standard and we review its conclusions of law de novo.
United States v. Quinney
,
2. Evidentiary hearing
We review a district court's decision not to hold an evidentiary hearing on a motion to suppress under the abuse-of-discretion standard.
United States v. Schreiber
,
B. Motion to suppress evidence
Ickes claims that law-enforcement officers conducted an illegal search of his residence and vehicle. First, he claims that the "stalking horse" caveat prevents law-enforcement officers from evading the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement by bringing a state probation officer to the search. Second, Ickes argues that his arrest terminated the probation officer's right to search his residence and vehicle.
1. The "stalking horse" caveat
The Fourth Amendment bars unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. U.S. Const. amend. IV. And "[a] probationer's home, like anyone else's,
*711
is protected by the Fourth Amendment's requirement that searches be 'reasonable.' "
Griffin v. Wisconsin
,
In
Griffin
, a probation officer conducted a warrantless search of the probationer's home based on the "reasonable grounds" that the probationer possessed contraband.
Griffin
,
The Supreme Court subsequently ruled in
Knights
that the police can search a probationer's residence when the probationer is subject to a search provision and the police have a reasonable suspicion that the probationer is engaging in illegal activity.
Knights
,
Several courts have suggested that
Knights
eliminated the "stalking horse" caveat to the "special needs" exception.
See, e.g.
,
United States v. Williams
,
*712
Herndon
,
All this being said, we conclude that the "stalking horse" caveat, if it survives
Knights
at all, does not apply when a probationer is subject to a valid search provision and law-enforcement officers have a reasonable suspicion that the probationer is engaging in illegal activity. In this case, Ickes was subject to state-ordered probation that included a search provision and the law-enforcement officers had a reasonable suspicion that Ickes was conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. For the duration of Ickes's probation, he had diminished privacy interests and the government had a comparatively substantial interest in monitoring Ickes's activities, so the police needed no more than a reasonable suspicion to search his residence and vehicle.
See
Knights
,
2. Post-arrest searches
This brings us to Ickes's second argument-that federal officials cannot conduct a warrantless search of a probationer's residence and vehicle after the probationer has been arrested. But he cites no authority (and we have found none) that supports his argument. In the analogous situation of a search provision in a parole agreement, several of our sister circuits have concluded that an arrest does not immediately terminate the right of law-enforcement officers to conduct a warrantless search.
See e.g.
,
United States v. Trujillo
,
On this issue, we see no reason to distinguish between a parolee and a probationer. The government maintains an interest in supervising both and in protecting society from illegal activity. This court, moreover, has previously upheld a probation officer's post-arrest search of a probationer's residence in the case of
United States v. Martin
,
C. Evidentiary hearing
We finally reach Ickes's argument that the district court erred by not holding
*713
an evidentiary hearing on his motion to suppress. He does not dispute, however, any of the facts relating to the search. Because Ickes's argument is "entirely legal in nature," an evidentiary hearing was unnecessary.
See
United States v. Abboud
,
III. CONCLUSION
For all of the reasons set forth above, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles Henry ICKES, Defendant-Appellant.
- Cited By
- 23 cases
- Status
- Published