Opinion ID: 782000
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Stop of Ridge and Baker

Text: 3 A confidential informant told Officer Chris Nicholson (Nicholson) of the Red Bank Police Department in Red Bank, Tennessee, that Thomas Stocklem (Stocklem) was operating a methamphetamine laboratory in his residence. Nicholson secured a search warrant for Stocklem's home and several officers executed the search on July 2, 2000, at approximately 8:30 p.m. During the search, which lasted until early July 3, officers discovered a methamphetamine laboratory and items associated with its operation in Stocklem's basement. 4 While the officers were executing the warrant, Stocklem received a call on his cellular phone. Detective Bobby Prichard (Prichard) answered the phone and heard what appeared to be a male voice on the telephone that said `Danny's on the way with the money.' J.A. at 240 (Prichard Test.). Prichard told the caller, Okay, we'll be waiting, before the call was disconnected. J.A. at 240 (Prichard Test.). When Prichard related the conversation to the other officers, Lieutenant Dan Dyer (Dyer) and Detective Mark King (King) said the caller may have been referring to Danny Baker. Nicholson's informant had mentioned Baker on several occasions, stating that Baker cooked methamphetamine in Stocklem's laboratory. King advised the others that he knew that Baker had been armed during a previous arrest. 5 Several officers exited the residence and hid themselves in the area surrounding the driveway. About twenty minutes after the phone call, a van entered Stocklem's driveway. Baker was driving, and Ridge was in the passenger seat. Officers moved in behind the van and followed it until it stopped. The officers removed Baker and Ridge from the vehicle. 6 As Ridge exited the van, Nicholson observed a Ruger 9 millimeter semiautomatic pistol on the passenger seat, where Ridge had apparently been sitting on it. Nicholson announced Gun. J.A. at 232 (Nicholson Test.), 252 (Dyer Test.). Once Baker and Ridge were out of the vehicle, officers also observed a blue light similar to those used on unmarked police cars, plastic tubing, electronic scales, and a torch. Baker was in possession of a bag containing a white substance and, according to the police, several hundred dollars. 1 7 Baker and Ridge claim that they had an innocent purpose for going to Stocklem's house. Baker's sister, Allison Turner (Turner), had left a car at Stocklem's house for repairs a month earlier. On July 2, someone allegedly called Turner and told her that somebody was up there fooling with [her] car and she should come and see what was going on about it. J.A. at 257 (Turner Test.). When Turner asked Baker to check on the car, he said that he would go get [Ridge] and go over there and look. J.A. at 257 (Turner Test.). After Baker's arrest, Turner picked up the car herself. It had not been repaired. 8 Ridge filed a motion to suppress all evidence seized as a result of the officer's stop of the van. The magistrate judge conducted an evidentiary hearing, and recommended that the motion be denied: 9 [G]iven the information the officers had about Danny Baker carrying a gun in the past, his involvement in methamphetamine, and the fact that drug dealers often carry weapons, the officers had a reasonable belief, based on specific and articulable facts, that the occupants of the van might be armed and dangerous. 10 J.A. at 75 (Magistrate Judge's Report & Rec.). The district court adopted the magistrate's recommendation. 11 Ridge then pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), and conspiracy to manufacture fifty grams or more of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a)(1), and 841(b)(1)(B). He was sentenced to 180 months of imprisonment, sixty months of which are attributable to the firearm conviction. Pursuant to his conditional guilty plea, Ridge appeals his conviction for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime on the ground that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress because the stop of the vehicle violated his Fourth Amendment rights.