Court Opinion

ID: 9479763
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:28:34.637441+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:16.114058
License: Public Domain

ENRIGHT, District Judge,
dissenting:
This case has an unusual and protracted history. In 1981, the district court suppressed the marijuana for failure to obtain a warrant prior to taking core samples of the suspected contraband. This court upheld the suppression, but the United States Supreme Court reversed and remanded. United States v. Johns, 707 F.2d 1093 (9th Cir.1983), rev’d, 469 U.S. 478, 105 S.Ct. 881, 83 L.Ed.2d 890 (1985).
On remand, appellant again moved to suppress the marijuana, on grounds that its seizure was tainted by a prior illegal vehicle detention. The district court denied the motion, and appellant was tried and convicted in June 1986. All other defendants entered guilty pleas and were sentenced.
On July 30, 1986, Johns filed an appeal, which was heard on August 14, 1987. His conviction was affirmed by this court pursuant to Memorandum Decision dated September 22, 1987. On November 3, 1987, Johns petitioned the court for a rehearing which was conducted on May 11, 1988.
This case was subsequently remanded to the district court for the limited purpose of making additional findings of fact. In light of the district court’s findings, this court ordered supplemental briefing. Oral argument was held on February 16, 1989. This court again reaffirmed Johns’ conviction by Memorandum Decision filed March 31, 1989, while vacating the September 22, 1987 Memorandum Decision. Now nearly nine years after the arrest of Johns and after this court has twice affirmed his conviction, the majority reverses.
The district court in its supplemental findings of fact No. 7 acknowledged that Customs Agent Harper decided to set up surveillance at Duarte’s house as a direct result of the identification of the defendants during the illegal stop. The sole issue now before this court is whether the illegally obtained identification sufficiently taints the later obtained evidence to justify its suppression.
The majority suppresses the evidence on the grounds that the illegally obtained identification of Johns significantly directed the investigation which led to the marijuana. According to the majority, “[t]he illegal stop was the impetus for the chain of events leading to the marijuana” and thus was too closely linked to the discovery for the taint to have dissipated. Therefore, the role of the identification of Johns was not de minimis or insignificant. I disagree.
*247The question, as put by Judge Duniway in United States v. Bacall, 443 F.2d 1050, 1056 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 1004, 92 S.Ct. 565, 30 L.Ed.2d 557 (1971), is “... what kind of direction or impetus did the illegal seizure give to the ... investigation?” In answering that question, Judge Duniway stated:
Where the evidence sought to be suppressed was discovered through utilization of some legally obtained leads, as well as some illegally obtained leads, the substantiality of the legally obtained leads may influence the determination whether the evidence ought to be suppressed. And if the illegally obtained leads were so insubstantial that their role in the discovery of the evidence sought to be suppressed “must be considered de minimis,” then suppression is inappropriate.
Id. at 1056 (citation omitted).
It is important to note that the government’s investigation of Johns was in no way initiated by, or dependent upon, the illegal stop and search. The district court in its findings found that there was a prior investigation involving Johns, Duarte, and Leon. The Customs Service had been investigating Johns and Duarte prior to the August 4 seizure, and it had secured information implicating Johns in narcotics trafficking. It was further known that Duarte had a record of narcotics-related offenses, and that Leon’s and Duarte’s activities were connected.
Moreover, before proceeding to the intersection during the morning of the search, Agent Harper had received indications that criminal activity was in progress. He knew from an anonymous phone call that an airplane was landing at Johns’ dragstrip and that a vehicle was meeting the plane. He also knew that Leon had picked up large drums of aviation fuel at the Sierra Vista airport. Thus, contrary to the majority’s assertions, the investigation had both impetus and direction prior to the illegal stop.
The information obtained from the illegal stop goes solely to the issue of identity and, therefore, was insubstantial relative to the legally obtained leads. See United States v. Patino, 649 F.2d 724, 730 n. 6 (9th Cir.1981); United States v. Sand, 541 F.2d 1370, 1376 (9th Cir.1976), cert. denied, Scully v. United States, 429 U.S. 1103, 97 S.Ct. 1130, 51 L.Ed.2d 553 (1987). The mere fact that the Fourth Amendment illegality directed attention to Johns does not in and of itself require exclusion of the evidence later unearthed. Hoonsilapa v. INS, 575 F.2d 735, 738 (9th Cir.), modified, 586 F.2d 755 (1978).
As Judge Friendly has stated, “to grant life-long immunity from investigation and prosecution because a violation of the Fourth Amendment first indicated to the police that a man was not the law-abiding citizen he purported to be would stretch the exclusionary rule beyond tolerable bounds.” Sand, 541 F.2d at 1376 (quoting United States v. Friedland, 441 F.2d 855, 861 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 867, 92 S.Ct. 143, 30 L.Ed.2d 111, 404 U.S. 914, 92 S.Ct. 239, 30 L.Ed.2d 188 (1971). Considering the previous information known to police about Johns and the suspected level of illegal activity on August 4, 1981, the simple illegal identification is insufficient to suppress the seized marijuana.
Accordingly, I would affirm Johns’ conviction.