Opinion ID: 201272
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Discovery of the Ammunition

Text: 13 We review a ruling on a motion to suppress under a bifurcated standard. The district court's factual rulings are reviewed for clear error and its legal conclusions are reviewed de novo. United States v. Maguire, 359 F.3d 71, 76 (1st Cir.2004). A determination regarding probable cause is reviewed de novo as it is a mixed question of law and fact. Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996). 14 Pardue's motion to suppress sought to exclude the ammunition which formed the basis of the indictment. The government opposed the motion on three grounds: first, it argued that the initial discovery of the ammunition was incident to a lawful arrest based on probable cause to believe that Pardue had committed an assault; second, that the discovery was part of a lawful Terry stop; and finally, that the ammunition would have inevitably been discovered during an inventory search following Pardue's arrest. The district court held a hearing on the motion. Although it found that the officers did not have probable cause to arrest Pardue until they arrived back at 27 Veranda Street, and thus that the initial discovery of the ammunition was unlawful, the district court denied the motion to suppress because the evidence would inevitably have been discovered. Specifically, the district court found that probable cause to arrest existed once Coyne learned that Pardue had hit his sister in the leg with a lighter and thrown her son on a pile of laundry. At that point, a lawful arrest would have been effectuated and Pardue would have been properly taken into custody. Upon his arrival at the Cumberland County Jail, an inventory of his belongings would have taken place, and the ammunition would have been discovered. 15 In Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), the Supreme Court held that a police officer may in appropriate circumstances and in an appropriate manner approach a person for purposes of investigating possibly criminal behavior even though there is no probable cause to make an arrest. Id. at 22, 88 S.Ct. 1868. To withstand scrutiny, an officer must be able to articulate something more than an inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or `hunch.' United States v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 7, 109 S.Ct. 1581, 104 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989)(quoting Terry, 392 U.S. at 27, 88 S.Ct. 1868) (internal quotations omitted). In evaluating the validity of a Terry stop, we consider the totality of the circumstances, mindful that [t]he concept of reasonable suspicion, like probable cause, is not readily, or even usefully, reduced to a neat set of legal rules. Id. 7-8, 88 S.Ct. 1868 (quotations and citations omitted). 16 The stop of Pardue was appropriate and reasonable at its inception. Examining the circumstances leading up to the stop, we recount the relevant facts Coyne knew or could have reasonably inferred when he initially stopped Pardue. He knew that a domestic assault had been committed in the vicinity, that it had been committed by someone whose physical description matched that of the individual he saw, and that the assailant had departed from the scene on foot. 17 The second inquiry is whether the scope of the investigatory stop was reasonable under the circumstances. United States v. Trueber, 238 F.3d 79, 92 (1st Cir.2001). While the district court found that the officers had reasonable suspicion to stop Pardue, it held that Coyne did not have a particularized safety concern. Indeed, we note that by the time Coyne searched the backpack, it had already been taken away from Pardue and there was no apparent risk that Pardue could have obtained a weapon or anything else from it. Thus, the district court held, and we agree, that the initial search of the backpack was outside the bounds set by Terry. 18 The district court also found that Coyne lacked probable cause to arrest Pardue until after he had taken Pardue to 27 Veranda Street and learned that the lighter Pardue threw at his sister had, in fact, hit her. 2 Nevertheless, the district court held that, even if Coyne's initial search of Pardue's backpack exceeded the bounds of a Terry search, [a]s a result of defendant's lawful arrest [at 27 Veranda Street for domestic assault], the ammunition would have inevitably been discovered during the security search at the Cumberland County Jail or when Officer Coyne inventoried the contents of the backpack.... See generally Nix v. Williams, 467 U.S. 431, 447-48, 104 S.Ct. 2501, 81 L.Ed.2d 377 (1984); United States v. Zapata, 18 F.3d 971, 978-79 (1st Cir.1994). 19 We have identified a three-part test for applying the inevitable discovery exception: 20 first, whether the legal means [are] truly independent; second, whether both the use of the legal means and the discovery by that means are truly inevitable; and, third, whether the application of the inevitable discovery exception either provides an incentive for police misconduct or significantly weakens fourth amendment protection. 21 United States v. Scott, 270 F.3d 30, 42 (1st Cir.2001)(quoting United States v. Silvestri, 787 F.2d 736, 744 (1st Cir.1986)) (internal quotation marks omitted). 22 In this case, the district court found that the government had met its burden of showing the legal means were truly independent, since the evidence put forth in the suppression hearing established that both the jail and the Portland Police Department had policies that would have led to a search of the backpack after Pardue's lawful arrest for domestic assault. Noting the district court's finding of no probable cause to arrest Pardue at the site where he was initially stopped, however, appellant argues that his transfer to 27 Veranda Street fell outside the scope of a lawful Terry stop. Coyne should have released Pardue rather than driving him to 27 Veranda Street, appellant argues, and therefore Pardue's subsequent arrest and the security search of his backpack were not independent of his unlawful detention. 23 It is not necessary for us to determine whether driving Pardue to 27 Veranda Street exceeded the bounds of a lawful Terry stop. Even if the transfer in Coyne's police cruiser constituted a de facto arrest, rather than a lawful component of the Terry stop, probable cause for such arrest existed under the collective police knowledge doctrine. As we explained in United States v. Paradis, 802 F.2d 553, 557 (1st Cir.1986), that the arresting officer may have lacked probable cause for the arrest of the suspect does not mean that the arrest is invalid for lack of probable cause. It is enough that the collective knowledge and information of all the officers involved establishes probable cause for the arrest. (internal citations omitted) (emphasis in original), quoted in Sheehy v. Town of Plymouth, 191 F.3d 15, 19 (1st Cir.1999). 24 We review the determination of whether probable cause existed to arrest Pardue without a warrant in light of the totality of the circumstances. Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 230-32, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983); United States v. Lee, 317 F.3d 26, 32 (1st Cir.2003). 25 Probable cause exists when the facts and circumstances within the police officers' knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information were sufficient to warrant a prudent person in believing that defendant had committed or was committing an offense. 26 United States v. Fiasconaro, 315 F.3d 28, 34-35 (1st Cir.2002) (quoting United States v. Figueroa, 818 F.2d 1020, 1023 (1st Cir.1987)(internal quotation marks and brackets omitted)). 27 While Pardue was being held at Coyne's police car, Vogel had obtained Kyra's account of the altercation. In light of her assertions that Pardue had thrown her 17-month-old son into a pile of laundry and had thrown a lighter at her leg, causing a welt, coupled with Pardue's description matching the one given by the dispatcher and his presence in the vicinity of the altercation, Vogel correctly determined that probable cause existed to arrest Pardue on a domestic violence charge. See Lee, 317 F.3d at 32 (Probable cause often accretes gradually....). Even if Coyne had not himself established grounds for probable cause, under the circumstances of this case — where Coyne and Vogel were working in collaboration over the radio to respond to the same emergency call, Vogel had obtained information establishing probable cause, and had instructed Coyne to bring Pardue to 27 Veranda Street — probable cause to arrest Pardue existed on the basis of the officers' collective knowledge. See Sheehy, 191 F.3d at 19. Consequently, the security search conducted subsequent to Pardue's arrest at 27 Veranda Street was independent of both the unlawful search of his bag and any arguable violation of the limits on moving suspects during a Terry stop. 28 We next address whether the search of Pardue's backpack by lawful means, and the discovery of the ammunition thereby, were truly inevitable. Lawrence LaPointe, a staff sergeant at the Cumberland County Jail who was in charge of intake and booking, testified that it is standard procedure to perform a security check of personal belongings when a person is taken into custody. He also testified that the policy of the jail is to perform security searches of the personal belongings of any suspect taken into custody in order to locate any possible contraband. In his testimony, LaPointe stated that there was no possibility that Pardue's backpack would have escaped the search and inventory procedure after his arrest, because LaPointe would have checked it himself regardless of Coyne's search. It is routine practice to confiscate contraband such as ammunition, according to the staff sergeant. Thus, the ammunition would have been discovered in the backpack by way of a routine search of personal belongings. Cf. Illinois v. Lafayette, 462 U.S. 640, 645, 103 S.Ct. 2605, 77 L.Ed.2d 65 (1983)(search of backpack is permissible during inventory search); United States v. Burnette, 375 F.3d 10, 18 (1st Cir.2004)(permissible to search bags pursuant to inventory search policy). 29 In addition, the Portland Police Department would have conducted a standard inventory of the suspect's property for the officers' protection and to safeguard the property. Coyne testified he took the backpack inside the jail when he was going to fill in Pardue's arrest forms. It was considered personal property, not evidence. Pursuant to Portland Police Department policy, Coyne conducted an inventory search of the backpack. He then secured the backpack in a locker. When asked whether the backpack would have remained unsearched at the jail, Coyne said no chance. Either the [c]ounty would have searched it or I would have searched it. We have previously upheld the validity of these practices, see United States v. Scott, 270 F.3d at 42, as well as the fact that they are independent means of discovery from the tainted search. Id.; see also Colorado v. Bertine, 479 U.S. 367, 369, 107 S.Ct. 738, 93 L.Ed.2d 739 (1987)(exception to warrant requirement for an inventory search); Zapata, 18 F.3d at 979 n. 6. In this case, Pardue's backpack would inevitably have been opened by either the Portland Police Department or the Cumberland County Jail staff sergeant and the ammunition would have been discovered. 30 Finally, the record suggests that any Fourth Amendment violation was unintentional, and is clear that application of the inevitable discovery doctrine in this case does not create an incentive for future police misconduct. See Scott, 270 F.3d at 45 (stating that under the third prong of the inevitable discovery doctrine a court ... must bear always in mind the social costs of the exclusionary rule). Therefore the motion to suppress was properly denied.