Opinion ID: 775981
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Motion to Suppress Evidence from Truck

Text: 50 In his second assignment of error, Graham contends the district court erred by denying his motion to suppress the items seized during the warrantless search of his pickup truck. On March 18, 1998, when the government searched Graham's trailer home, federal agents also searched Graham's truck and seized an AR-15 rifle, a Beretta pistol, a bag of marijuana, and several cans of ammunition. Graham argues that the search was improper because there was no authorizing warrant, he refused to consent to the search, the officers did not have probable cause for the search, and no exception to the warrant requirement applied. 51 At the suppression hearing held before the district court, Agent David Smith (Smith) testified that he was part of the team that conducted the search of Graham's trailer home. Smith had participated in monitoring the wiretapped conversations between Graham and Carter and, in preparation for the search, Smith testified that he had read the forty-page affidavit in support of the search of the house. Smith stated that on March 18, 1998, Graham was arrested by federal agents in his pickup truck as he was pulling into his trailer park. Smith, who arrived after Graham's arrest, explained that during his search of the trailer home, he found several weapons and boxes of ammunition in Graham's bedroom. The agent noted that, in the course of his search, he found ammunition boxes for an SKS rifle and an AR-15 rifle in a closet in Graham's bedroom; he stated that he also found parts for an AR-15 or an M16 in a gun cabinet in the closet, as well as on a nearby shelf. Agent Smith testified that he did not find corresponding weapons for those boxes of ammunition or parts. The agent also described how he found several of Graham's bug-out lists of things to take with him in case he had to exit his trailer quickly, and one of the weapons mentioned on the list was an AR-15 rifle. At this point, the agent testified, he believed that Graham owned an AR-15 or an M16. The agent then testified that he found a manufacturer's box and ammunition for a Beretta-92 pistol in the gun cabinet in the bedroom closet, but could not find the corresponding handgun. The agent stated that he then checked with other searching officers, and none had been able to locate an AR-15, an M16, or a Beretta in Graham's trailer. 52 According to Agent Smith, he then asked Graham to consent to a search of a shed on his property and his truck; Graham consented to the search of the shed but refused to consent to a search of his pickup truck. Graham then gave Smith a ring of his keys and asked Smith to give the keys to a neighbor. The agent stated that he recognized the name of the neighbor as someone who was sympathetic to NAM. Smith took the keys and decided to search the truck for the missing weapons because, based on his knowledge of Graham's participation in the militia group's plans for attack, he believed that Graham was likely to keep weapons in his truck. Agent Smith also stated that he feared the neighbor or another resident of the trailer park sympathetic to the militia group would get access to weapons in the truck. With another agent, Smith then searched the truck and recovered ammunition and marijuana from the cab of the truck, and an AR-15, a Beretta pistol, and ammunition in the covered bed of the truck. 9 53 The district court determined as a matter of law that the truck search was proper despite the lack of a warrant because the searching agent had probable cause to believe he would find evidence of a crime in the vehicle. The district court found that the agent had probable cause based on the following facts: the agent had read the search warrant affidavit; he had listened to the wiretap between Graham and Carter; he had found evidence in the trailer home of Graham's possession of certain weapons but was unable to locate those weapons; he had also found other weapons in the trailer home as he had expected pursuant to the warrant; and he believed that the neighbor to whom Graham wanted to give the his keys was a militia sympathizer. Based on this finding, the district court denied Graham's motion to suppress the weapons recovered from his truck. 54 Graham argues to this court that because warrantless searches are presumptively illegal, the government must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that it searched pursuant to an exception to the warrant requirement. Graham then asserts that no exception to the warrant requirement applies to this case. Attempting to distinguish California v. Carney, 471 U.S. 386 (1985), and United States v. Kincaide, 145 F.3d 771 (6th Cir. 1998), two cases relied upon by the district court at the suppression hearing, Graham contends that Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443 (1971), is the persuasive authority on point in this case. According to Graham, Coolidge is controlling because, in that case, the Supreme Court invalidated a warrantless search of a car where the vehicle was parked, the defendant had already been removed and taken into custody, and it was not likely that the vehicle would be driven away. Appellant's Br. at 37. In this case, Graham argues, he had been removed from his truck before it was searched, the keys were not in his possession and thus the truck was not capable of movement, and the agents could have watched over the truck while they obtained a warrant. 55 The government counters that Graham's argument reflects a misreading of current Supreme Court precedent on the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. According to the government, it need not prove any special exigency to justify a warrantless search of an automobile; the police need only have probable cause for the search. For this proposition, the government relies on Maryland v. Dyson, 527 U.S. 465 (1999), in which the Supreme Court explicitly rejected the contention that the police may only conduct a warrantless search of a car if they have probable cause and there is a separate finding of exigency. Because the agents in this case acted upon probable cause, the government contends, the search was proper and the district court's judgment should be upheld. 56 When reviewing a district court's denial of a suppression motion, we review the district court's factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions, including its findings of probable cause, de novo. United States v. Kincaide, 145 F.3d 771, 779 (6th Cir. 1998). The preferable method for searching a person's private property is for the government to obtain a warrant. United States v. Akram, 165 F.3d 452, 456 (6th Cir. 1999). Where a law enforcement agent has no warrant to search an automobile, he may still conduct a search pursuant to the automobile exception if he has probable cause to believe that instrumentalities or evidence of crime may be found in the vehicle to be searched. United States v. Lumpkin, 159 F.3d 983, 986 (6th Cir. 1998). We have defined probable cause as reasonable grounds for belief, supported by less than prima facie proof but more than mere suspicion. Bennett, 905 F.2d at 934. 57 The government is correct that Graham's reliance on Coolidge is misplaced, in light of more recent developments in the Supreme Court's jurisprudence. The automobile exception to the warrant requirement was based initially on a car's ready mobility and the exigent circumstances created by that mobility: probable cause clearly could develop after a car was sighted, in which case the officers might not have the opportunity to obtain a warrant without losing sight of the car; or probable cause could develop prior to sighting the car but officers could believe that the car would escape if not stopped immediately. See Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 153, 154-55 (1925). Indeed, language in early Supreme Court cases appeared to require such an exigency in addition to probable cause for a warrantless search of automobile. See Coolidge, 403 U.S. at 478 (noting that, even where there is probable cause to search an automobile, if police knew of the presence of the automobile and planned all along to seize it when they arrested defendant in his home, then there was no 'exigent circumstance' to justify their failure to obtain a warrant and fruits of search must be suppressed); Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 50-52 (1970) (holding that, based on automobile's ready mobility and fleeting opportunity to search, where officers have probable cause to search a car when it is initially stopped on the road it may also be searched without a warrant after it has been taken to the police station). Since California v. Carney, 471 U.S. 386, 391-92 (1985), however, when the Supreme Court articulated an additional justification for warrantless car searches, namely that a car's occupants have a lesser expectation of privacy in their car than in their home due to our society's pervasive regulation of automobiles, the necessity of a special exigency has waned. 58 Indeed, most recently the Supreme Court has emphasized that no special exigency is required to conduct a warrantless search of an automobile when the car is mobile and the searching officer has probable cause to believe that fruits of a crime may be present in the automobile. Maryland v. Dyson, 527 U.S. 465, 466 (1999). The government's reliance on Dyson is, therefore, both appropriate and controlling. More helpful than Dyson for purposes of this case, however, is Pennsylvania v. Labron, 518 U.S. 989 (1996), Dyson's precursor, which addresses directly the fact pattern in the instant case. 59 Labron consolidated two Pennsylvania cases for argument. In the second case, Pennsylvania v. Kilgore, No. 95-1738, the Supreme Court approved of a warrantless search of the defendant's pickup truck which occurred after the defendant's wife drove the truck to a farmhouse, entered the farmhouse to conduct a drug transaction with the defendant, and was arrested with the defendant as part of a drug sting. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held the truck search violated the Fourth Amendment because, although there was probable cause for the search, there were no exigent circumstances justifying the failure to obtain a warrant. Reversing, the Supreme Court determined that the truck search was proper because the police had probable cause to believe there were drugs in the truck after having observed the defendant and his wife walking to and from their truck and the farmhouse. The Supreme Court held that [i]f a car is readily mobile and probable cause exists to believe it contains contraband, the Fourth Amendment thus permits police to search the vehicle without more. Labron, 518 U.S. at 940. 60 The truck's ready mobility was not questioned, despite the fact that, as in our case, the defendants had been arrested outside of the truck and prior to the truck search. We believe the Supreme Court's reference to the truck's ready mobility was not, therefore, to demonstrate an exigent circumstance, but rather to show that when the place to be searched, such as a truck, is associated with a lesser expectation of privacy than a home, the justification for a warrantless search articulated in Carney is satisfied provided the police have probable cause. 61 Even before Labron, this court had recognized that police may search a car without a warrant subsequent to executing a valid house search when that search has given rise to probable cause to search the car. In United States v. Hofstatter, 8 F.3d 316 (6th Cir. 1993), a panel of this court approved an automobile search which occurred after an authorized search of the defendants' home. The police officers in Hofstatter executed a search warrant on two addresses where the defendants were believed to have gone after picking up ingredients for their drug manufacturing business; the officers then searched one defendant's car, which had been used the day before in a controlled drug buy and was parked in the driveway of the premises. Incriminating evidence was seized from the car. We upheld the search based only upon the officers' probable cause, without any discussion of exigent circumstances or the car's mobility, stating that [a]lthough the government might have had time to secure a warrant to search the automobile, there was no requirement that it do so. Hofstatter, 8 F.3d at 322. 62 In this case, the district court did not err by finding that the agents had probable cause to search the truck. The district court relied upon the applicable principle of law, namely that a vehicle may be searched, without any indication of exigency, if the searching officers have probable cause to believe that it contains instrumentalities or evidence of the crime. Moreover, the district court's findings of fact were not clearly erroneous: all factual findings were directly supported by Agent Smith's testimony. The district court properly viewed the search of the truck in light of the allegations in the search warrant affidavit and the agents' search of the trailer home. 10 Graham was suspected of participating in a conspiracy to lead a violent offensive against the government and its agents and officers. Agent Smith, who testified that he had monitored the wiretapped conversations between Graham and Carter and had read the search warrant affidavit the day of the search, knew that Graham was suspected of participating in the conspiracy and that as part of the conspiracy he was amassing weapons and ammunition. In addition to the fact that Agent Smith had been briefed that members of militia organizations collect firearms and that Graham might carry weapons in his truck, the agent found strong evidence in the trailer indicating that an assault rifle and a Beretta pistol were unaccounted for during the search. J.A. at 743-44. The agent's belief that several weapons were outstanding was reasonable, and there was a fair probability that those weapons would be found in Graham's truck; therefore, Agent Smith had probable cause to believe that Graham's truck contained contraband or evidence of a crime. 11 Contrary to Graham's assertion, the agent did not need to find a magistrate and obtain a search warrant for the truck; the agent's belief that there was probable cause to search the truck and the truck's mobility were sufficient to justify the search. Therefore, we AFFIRM the district court's denial of Graham's motion to suppress the evidence recovered from the pickup truck.