Opinion ID: 2997541
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Magdalena Correa

Text: Initially, Correa’s sole argument on appeal was that law enforcement officials lacked probable cause to arrest her during the July 10 transaction, and hence that the district court erred in denying her motion to suppress the evidence obtained in the search of her vehicle incident to that arrest. After oral argument, we gave her permission to file a supplemental brief arguing that her Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial was violated when the district court based her sentence on facts not found by the jury, including the amount of cocaine for which she was responsible, her obstruction of justice, the use of a weapon, and her role as a leader. Correa conceded in her supplemental brief that she had not raised this issue before the district court. We consider first her arguments with respect to her arrest and the suppression of the evidence, and then her sentencing arguments. “In order to have probable cause for an arrest, law enforcement agents must reasonably believe, in light of the facts and circumstances within their knowledge at the time of the arrest, that the suspect had committed or was committing an offense.” Payne v. Pauley, 337 F.3d 767, 776 (7th Cir. 2003). The fact-intensive, on-the-spot determination of probable cause often involves an exercise of judgment, which “ ‘turn[s] on the assessment of probabilities in particular factual contexts—not readily, or even usefully, reduced to a neat set of legal rules.’ ” Maxwell v. City of Indianapolis, 998 F.2d 431, 434 (7th Cir. 1993) (quoting Ill. v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 232 (1983)). Therefore, courts evaluate probable cause “not on the facts as an omniscient observer would perceive them but on the facts as they would have appeared to a reasonable person in the position of the arresting officer— seeing what he saw, hearing what he heard.” Mahoney v. Kesery, 976 F.2d 1054, 1057 (7th Cir. 1992). “So long as the totality of the circumstances, viewed in a common sense manner, reveals a probability or substantial chance of crimNos. 03-2056 & 03-2171 17 inal activity on the suspect’s part, probable cause exists.” United States v. Sawyer, 224 F.3d 675, 679 (7th Cir. 2000). We review de novo the court’s ultimate conclusion whether the law enforcement officers had probable cause. Id. at 679. Nonetheless, findings of historical fact are reviewed only for clear error. Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 699 (1996). In reviewing a denial of a suppression motion, we may consider evidence introduced both at the suppression hearing and at trial. United States v. Yang, 286 F.3d 940, 948 n.4 (7th Cir. 2002); United States v. Duguay, 93 F.3d 346, 350 (7th Cir. 1996); United States v. Trevino, 60 F.3d 333, 336 (7th Cir. 1995). The government contends that this case is governed by the “collective knowledge doctrine,” under which “[t]he police who actually make the arrest need not personally know all the facts that constitute probable cause if they reasonably are acting at the direction of another officer or police agency. In that case, the arrest is proper so long as the knowledge of the officer directing the arrest, or the collective knowledge of the agency he works for, is sufficient to constitute probable cause.” Tangwall v. Stuckey, 135 F.3d 510, 517 (7th Cir. 1998) (emphasis removed); see also United States v. Lenoir, 318 F.3d 725, 728 (7th Cir. 2003). This doctrine is rooted in the Supreme Court’s holding in United States v. Hensley, 469 U.S. 221 (1985), that “effective law enforcement cannot be conducted unless police officers can act on directions and information transmitted by one officer to another and that officers, who must often act swiftly, cannot be expected to cross-examine their fellow officers about the foundation for the transmitted information.” Id. at 231 (internal quotation marks omitted). Courts have applied the collective knowledge doctrine in two situations: first, when information from one jurisdiction is actually relayed to officers or agencies in another jurisdiction to permit coordination of investigations and the speedy apprehension of fleeing suspects, see United States v. Nafzger, 974 F.2d 906, 910 (7th Cir. 1992), and 18 Nos. 03-2056 & 03-2171 second, “when officers are in communication with each other while working together at a scene.” Id. at 911; see also Sawyer, 224 F.3d at 680. In the latter group of cases, the knowledge of the officers may be imputed to one another “even when there is no express testimony that the specific or detailed information creating the justification for a stop was conveyed (though of course the information actually possessed by the officers must be sufficient to justify the stop or arrest).” 974 F.2d at 911. To apply the collective knowledge doctrine here, we must determine first what knowledge can be imputed to the officers at the time that they arrested Correa, and second whether that knowledge was sufficient for the officers to form a reasonable belief that she was engaged in criminal activity. When Correa was arrested, the team of officers at the scene had the following information regarding her involvement in the drug transaction: (1) on July 10, 2002, she departed from 1503 Porter Avenue, the residence that she shared with Arturo and Luis; (2) she drove the same brown Cadillac (with the same license plate) as that parked in front of Varela’s house during the June 25, 2002 drug transaction; (3) when the brown Cadillac returned to Varela’s house after the delivery of the cocaine to the undercover agents, an Hispanic woman was in the passenger seat; (4) on July 10, agents followed Correa from 1503 Porter Avenue to the Quick Mart, where she spoke briefly to Luis; (5) she then spoke briefly with Varela in the Mexican supermarket’s parking lot, immediately prior to his leading Luna to the trunk of the white Cadillac; and (6) after this exchange and before Varela revealed the cocaine, she parked the brown Cadillac where it would be possible for her to monitor the trunk of the white Cadillac through her rearview mirror. We find this evidence sufficient for an officer to have formed “a reasonable belief to suspect criminal activity” on the part of Correa. In these situations, “law enforcement Nos. 03-2056 & 03-2171 19 agents are entitled to draw reasonable inferences from the facts before them, based on their training and expertise.” United States v. Funches, 327 F.3d 582, 586 (7th Cir. 2003). As in Funches, the agents here had extensive experience in narcotics enforcement, which is relevant to an informed assessment of the facts. See generally 2 WAYNE R. LAFAVE, SEARCH AND SEIZURE § 3.2(c), at 38 (3d ed. 1996). Agent Becka and Agent Hehr testified that they each have 19 years of experience as DEA agents, with the latter serving as the resident agent in charge of the DEA office in Madison, Wisconsin. Trained narcotics officers like these two, who observed Correa’s activities in this case, could reasonably conclude that she was engaged in counter-surveillance during the July 10 transaction, based on the facts we have just reviewed. See United States v. Carpenter, 342 F.3d 812, 815 (7th Cir. 2003); see also United States v. Ocampo, 937 F.2d 485, 490 (9th Cir. 1991). We therefore find that the totality of the circumstances, when considered in light of the DEA agents’ training and experience, gave them sufficient reason to believe that there was a significant probability that Correa was committing a crime. See United States v. Carrillo, 269 F.3d 761, 767 (7th Cir. 2001). Having found sufficient evidence in the aggregate to establish probable cause for Correa’s arrest, we must determine whether this information can be imputed to the officers who arrested her. Although we do not know who issued the order for Correa’s arrest and the precise information in the minds of the officers who carried it out, the record shows that the officers conducting surveillance during the July 10 transaction were in close communication with each other. Agent Becka, who also provided surveillance during the June 25 undercover transaction at which the brown Cadillac was observed, testified that during the July 10 transaction he shared a surveillance van with Agent Jeanne Hehr, who arrested Correa, and two other officers. Agent Hehr testified that she received “numerous cellular 20 Nos. 03-2056 & 03-2171 phone calls throughout the transaction” from other officers, reporting the activities and locations of the parties and the arrest of Varela and Luis. In addition, Agent Becka confirmed that Agent Chamulak, who was at the scene of the July 10 transaction in an undercover capacity, radioed to Agents Becka and Hehr that Correa had repositioned her car so as to monitor the white Cadillac. Finally, Special Agent Edward Wall of the Division of Narcotics Enforcement for the Wisconsin Department of Justice, who conducted aerial surveillance of the trip to Chicago and the subsequent transaction in Janesville, including the movements of the brown Cadillac, testified that he was in communication with the surveillance team on the ground via radio. This team of officers therefore worked together closely in monitoring the drug transaction as it unfolded. In such a case, we have found that the officers’ “knowledge may be mutually imputed even when there is no express testimony that the specific or detailed information creating the justification for a stop was conveyed.” Nafzger, 974 F.2d at 911; see also United States v. Edwards, 885 F.2d 377, 383 (7th Cir. 1989); Sawyer, 224 F.3d at 680. In particular, the team of officers monitoring the July 10 transaction were in close contact throughout. Agent Hehr, who arrested Correa, was in constant communication with Agent Becka and Agent Chamulak. On this basis, we find the collective knowledge doctrine applicable, and given that the information available to the officers at the time of Correa’s arrest provided probable cause, we affirm the district court’s denial of her motion to suppress. We now turn to Correa’s challenge to her sentence. In keeping with our decision in Paladino, 2005 WL 435430, we review Correa’s arguments under Blakely/Booker for plain error. Because there is nothing out of the ordinary about her case, compare United States v. Lee, 399 F.3d 864 (7th Cir. 2005), we conclude that Correa is also entitled to a limited remand to ascertain whether the district court Nos. 03-2056 & 03-2171 21 would have imposed the same sentence had it realized that the Guidelines were advisory only. Correa’s sentence depended in large part on the district court’s application of the Guidelines. As she points out, the indictment in her case charged her with offenses involving “more than” 500 grams of a substance containing cocaine. It did not charge that she played a leadership role in the conspiracy, that she possessed a dangerous weapon, or that she obstructed justice. The jury therefore never made any of the latter three findings, nor can one say whether it found any more than a smidgeon over 500 grams of the controlled substance. The district court, proceeding naturally enough under the Guidelines, found that Correa should be responsible for 1.56 kilograms of cocaine. See U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3. It also found that she possessed a dangerous weapon in connection with the offense and raised her Guidelines offense level by two on that basis, see U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1); it found that she played a leadership role and accordingly raised her offense level by another two, see U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(c); and it found that she had obstructed justice and thereby earned a final two-level increase under U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1. These adjustments for relevant conduct and other factors resulted in an increase in her offense level from a 26 to a 32, and changed the sentencing range from 63 to 78 months up to 121 to 151 months. The district court sentenced her at the bottom of the adjusted range, to 121 months. Particularly in this kind of case, we do not know if the judge, sentencing with the new flexibility afforded by Booker, would have concluded that 121 months was a “reasonable” sentence. In order to guide the court’s deliberations on the limited remand, however, we comment briefly on the points related to the application of the Guidelines that Correa has already raised. Relevant Conduct. The jury found that Correa was responsible for more than 500 grams of cocaine, while the 22 Nos. 03-2056 & 03-2171 court concluded that the exact amount for which she should be held responsible was 1.56 kilograms. Because that amount was less than two kilograms, it did not increase the offense level that followed from the jury’s verdict. See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c)(7). Weapon. The court found that Correa had two weapons, and that it was not “clearly improbable that the weapon(s) [were] connected with the offense.” See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1) and Application Note 3. One was a gun found under the mattress in her bedroom, and the other was a gun she kept in her purse. The court noted that she was selling drugs out of the house, and thus that it could not say that the guns had no connection with the offense. It also found that she had displayed a firearm to co-conspirator Varela to intimidate him. We see no clear error in these factual findings, whatever their relevance may be to the ultimate reasonable sentence. Role in the Offense. Initially, the government urged that Correa receive a four-level upward adjustment in her sentencing level for a leadership role in the conspiracy, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(a). In the end, however, the court imposed only a two-level upward adjustment under § 3B1.1(c), which is available for someone who is an “organizer, leader, manager or supervisor” in a capacity other than those covered by the higher enhancements. The court was concerned that the government had not adequately shown that the activity involved five or more participants, which is required for the four-level enhancement. On this point, the court gave Correa the benefit of the doubt. It found that she was at least a manager or supervisor of the group’s activities, along with Luis. That finding is supported in the record, should the judge consider it appropriate once again to take this factor into account. Obstruction of Justice. This enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 is perhaps the easiest to support in the record. The Nos. 03-2056 & 03-2171 23 district court found that Correa had lied at the trial when she testified that she had no knowledge of the drug trafficking conspiracy. The jury’s verdict, among other things, squarely contradicts her assertion. (The jury did not find the other elements of an obstruction offense, and so we assume that its apparent conclusion that Correa was untruthful is not the end of this argument.) The court also found that she lied when she said that the drug ledger did not belong to her, but instead was Luis’s exclusive property, and when she claimed that she was not acting as a lookout for the sale. Again, the jury’s findings strongly contradict these assertions. Defendants who obstruct justice are particularly culpable, as both common sense and the Guidelines recognize. This factor may also play a part in the offense level computed for purposes of an advisory use of the Guidelines.