Court Opinion

ID: 9499058
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:36:39.58855+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:15.512212
License: Public Domain

JANET C. HALL, District Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Because the majority in Part II has misconstrued the record below, inadequately deferred to the lower court’s findings, and lowered the threshold for a probable cause finding under the Fourth Amendment, I respectfully dissent from Part II of the majority opinion that finds the police had probable cause to arrest Heath. I also respectfully dissent from Part I of Judge Calabresi’s opinion. Given the record before this court, there is not sufficient evidence on which to conclude that the police inevitably would have arrested Heath, and, accordingly, I concur in Part III of Judge Calabresi’s opinion.
The task in this appeal is “to determine whether the trial court has applied the proper legal principles and whether its findings of fact are ‘clearly erroneous.’” Puritan Ins. Co. v. Eagle S.S. Co., 779 F.2d 866, 871 (2d Cir.1985). If the factual findings are not clearly erroneous, this court may not disturb them. Id. In undertaking this task, the court is required to give “considerable deference to the trial court’s ... determination as to which of competing inferences should be drawn from the evidence of record.” Id.
Contrary to the findings of the magistrate judge and the district judge, Judge Calabresi, in Part II, states that police found dime bags of cocaine in three separate locations, and that the court below made no finding concerning the origin of the cocaine found at one of those locations, the bottom of the stairs. See Maj. Op. (Part II) at 56-57, n.3. However, the court below found that dime bags of cocaine were found in two places, at the top landing of the stairs (under or near the prone Summersett) and at the bottom of the stairwell, and, based on the record, reasonably inferred that the dime bags were dropped by Summersett on his way to or from the bathroom.
The record clearly supports these findings. Lieutenant Paul testified that he “did observe what appeared to be cocaine on the upper stairwell on the landing underneath Summersett’s legs as well as cocaine that was downstairs in the bottom of the stairwell."1 Suppression Hr’g Tr. at 11 (emphasis added). Several answers later, he testified that, “there was cocaine on the stairwell, at the bottom of the stairwell as well as the landing itself.” Id. at 12; see also id. at 24. Thus, Paul identified two locations on the stairwell: upper and bottom.
The majority in Part II appears to read this latter testimony to “find” a third location and then states that the court below did not conclude that Summersett dropped the cocaine at the bottom of the stairs. *67See Maj. Op. at 56 - 57, n.3. However, the court below did make that finding.2 After noting that Paul observed the bags both at the top and the bottom of the stairs, the magistrate judge, in her Report and Recommendation that the district court adopted in full, inferred that the dime bags of cocaine fell from Summersett “on his way to or from the bathroom.”3 See United States v. Heath, No. 04-CR-6009T, slip op. at 4 (W.D.N.Y. May 25, 2004) (“Heath I”). This inference is strongly supported by the fact that Summersett was on the move when the police entered, and Heath was not.4 Further record support for this inferential finding is that Summerset had bags of cocaine on and around him when he was ordered to lie down by Paul. Id. at 14. The court below then found that it could not infer that the dime bags were visible to Heath before the police entered. United States v. Heath, No. 04-CR-6009T(P), slip op. at 7-8 (W.D.N.Y. July 12, 2004) (“Heath II”). In fact, in referring to the residence as a whole, the district court specifically found that “the government offered no evidence that drugs or guns were in sight prior to the officers’ entry, or that the property was being used as a drug house.”5 Id. (emphasis added). These findings and inferences must be reviewed only for clear error, see Puritan Ins., 779 F.2d at 871, and must be viewed in a light most favorable to the prevailing party below, in this case Heath, see United States v. Harrell, 268 F.3d 141, 145 (2d Cir.2001).
After stating that the district court’s factual findings concerning the cocaine did not include the three dime bags at the bottom of the stairs, the majority in Part II acknowledges that it cannot say that Heath saw the cocaine. Instead, it opines that whether Heath saw the dime bags of cocaine at the bottom of the stairs “is of no import.” Maj. Op. Part II at 57. The majority in Part II cites several cases for the proposition that a “person of reasonable caution” — the circuit’s standard when determining the existence of probable cause under United States v. Rogers, 129 *68F.3d 76, 79 (2d Cir.1997) — “could properly conclude that those who are permitted to observe obvious criminal activity in a home are, absent indications to the contrary, likely to be complicit in the offense.” Maj. Op. (Part II) at 57 (citing United States v. Pennington, 287 F.3d 739, 747 (8th Cir. 2002); United States v. Jones, 72 F.3d 1324, 1332-33 (7th Cir.1995); United States v. Holder, 990 F.2d 1327, 1329 (D.C.Cir.1993), United States v. MacDonald, 916 F.2d 766, 768, 770 (2d Cir. 1990)(in banc); Hollyfield v. United States, 407 F.2d 1326, 1326 (9th Cir.1969)). Therefore, the majority in Part II concludes, the police would have had probable cause to arrest Heath based on the cocaine discovered in “plain view” at the bottom of the stairwell shortly after he was actually arrested. See Maj. Op. (Part II) at 57-58.
None of the cases relied on by the majority, however, support this broad proposition; furthermore, each case involved situations inapposite to the one here.6 It is the absence of the fact of unavoidable observation of criminal activity, or even some evidence that Heath knew or could have known of the presence of cocaine, that serves as the point of distinction between the cases cited by the majority in Part II and this case. In Pennington, the defendant owned and resided in a house where authorities found drug manufacturing equipment in plain view and where there were odors in the house associated with methamphetamine production. 287 F.3d at 741,746. Similarly, in Jones, 72 F.3d at 1332, the police, upon entering the defendant’s residence, observed the defendant’s wife attempt to stuff an envelope full of counterfeit bills down her pants in his immediate presence. In addition, there were numerous items of contraband scattered in plain view throughout the house. Id. In Holder, the police found the defendant standing approximately five feet from several bags of cocaine base, a razor, a plate with cocaine base on it, and an individual sitting at a table who was holding a package of cocaine. 990 F.2d at 1327. In MacDonald, a case in which the defendant challenged the finding of exigent circumstances justifying a warrantless entry and not the finding of probable cause to arrest, the defendant, counting a stack of money and in reach of a gun, was present during an undercover drug sale that immediately proceeded the arrest. 916 F.2d at 768-69. The police in MacDonald also smelled marijuana in the apartment where the sale and arrest occurred. Id.
In each of these cases, it was unavoidable for the defendant to have observed the criminal activity in his presence based on one or more of the following findings: he was actively participating in it; he could not help but perceive the odor of drugs; he was in the presence of a notorious display of drugs; or he was an owner and a resident of the dwelling in which the plain view contraband discovery took place. It does not follow from these cases that probable cause hinges on the mere possibility of observing criminal activity in a dwelling. Rather, the defendants in these cases actually observed criminal activity. Moreover, the criminal activity in each of these cases was overwhelmingly conspicuous, in contrast to the potential presence of three dime bags of cocaine at *69the bottom of a flight of stairs.7 For example, in Holder, the immediate proximity of the defendant to the contraband — a proximity which is lacking in the record of this case — was found necessary to support the inference that the defendant had knowledge of the criminal activity. As the Holder court opined:
More crucially, in this case the drugs were openly on display, and therefore appellant’s proximity to the drugs clearly reflected his knowledge of, and probably his involvement in, narcotics activity.... Unlike the situation in Ybarra, where the defendant’s presence in a public tavern was itself ostensibly innocent, Holder’s presence in a private apartment just a few feet from a table full of cocaine can hardly be so described. This is not a case in which officers’ probable cause depended partly on mere “propinquity to others independently suspected of criminal activity.” The grounds for suspecting [the other occupant] applied almost equally to Holder.
990 F.2d at 1329 (quoting Ybarra v. Illinois, 444 U.S. 85, 91, 100 S.Ct. 338, 62 L.Ed.2d 238 (1979)) (first, second, and third emphasis added) (citation omitted). At most, the cases relied on by the majority in Part II stand for the proposition that probable cause exists where a person is undeniably in the presence of criminal activity; they do not support the broader proposition that merely inferring the possibility that a defendant was “permitted to observe” criminal activity provides sufficient probable cause to arrest. See Maj. Op. (Part II) at 57.
However, even if the standard utilized by the majority in Part II was correct, there is no basis in the record for inferring that Heath was “permitted to observe” the three dime bags of cocaine. As already noted, the district court found that there was “no evidence that drugs or guns were in sight prior to the officers’ entry, or that the property was being used as a drug house.” Heath II at 7-8. Asserting, as the majority in Part II does, that the “bags of cocaine at the bottom of the stairs were in plain sight when the officers discovered them,” Maj. Op. (Part II) at 57, does not encompass the conclusion that the three dime bags of cocaine were in Heath’s sight before the officers discovered them, and this assertion is not equivalent to the finding by the majority in Part II that they were in plain view at a time when Heath was permitted to see them, see id. at 57. Based on the record below, the possibility that Heath was permitted to observe criminal activity is pure speculation. Since the government bore the burden of proof at the suppression hearing, see, e.g., Nix v. Williams, 467 U.S. 431, 444 n. 5, 104 S.Ct. 2501, 81 L.Ed.2d 377 (1984); see also United States v. Eng, 971 F.2d 854, 859 (2d Cir.1992), this speculation cannot support a reversal of the district court.
There was also nothing in the record to suggest that Heath was an owner or tenant of the residence, or evidence to connect him to the residence, such as keys or mail. There was also no evidence as to Heath’s relationship to Summersett, to the children found downstairs, or to anyone else with a connection to the residence. The inferences that could be drawn about the participation in criminal activity from the relationship of the defendants to the property and to each other in Pennington and Jones simply cannot be drawn here. Further, other than the putative dime bags, there is no physical evidence of conspicuous criminal activity occurring in the presence of Heath prior to the entry of law enforce*70ment, such as odors or paraphernalia, as was present in Pennington, Jones, Holder, and MacDonald. In those cases, such facts supported the conclusion that the defendant was implicated in the discovered criminal activity.
On the record before the court and the findings below, Supreme Court precedent compels the conclusion that Paul lacked probable cause to arrest and then search Heath. In each of several cases, a defendant was illegally searched, or arrested and then searched, based upon his mere proximity to suspected illegal activity. In Ybarra, the defendant was searched because he was in a bar whose bartender was suspected of dealing drugs. 444 U.S. at 88-89, 100 S.Ct. 338. In United States v. Di Re, the defendant was found in a car with an informant, a known suspect, and visible contraband. 332 U.S. 581, 583, 68 S.Ct. 222, 92 L.Ed. 210 (1948). In Sibron v. New York, the defendant was observed over the course of eight hours speaking to known drug addicts. 392 U.S. 40, 45, 88 S.Ct. 1889, 20 L.Ed.2d 917 (1968). The Supreme Court held in each case that a defendant’s mere proximity to contraband, suspect individuals, or illegal activity did not give the police probable cause to search or arrest him.8 See Ybarra, 444 U.S. at 90-91, 100 S.Ct. 338; Di Re, 332 U.S. at 592-93, 68 S.Ct. 222; Sibron, 392 U.S. at 62-64, 88 S.Ct. 1889. As the Supreme Court explained in Ybarra, “[A] person’s mere propinquity to others independently suspected of criminal activity does not, without more, give rise to probable cause to search that person.” 444 U.S. at 91, 100 S.Ct. 338 (citing Sibron, 392 U.S. at 62-63, 88 S.Ct. 1889). Such a search or seizure “must be supported by probable cause particularized with respect to that person. This requirement cannot be undercut or avoided by simply pointing to the fact that coincidentally there exists probable cause to search or seize another or to search the premises where the person may happen to be.” Id.
This case is much closer to Ybarra than to the cases relied on by the majority in Part II. The location searched here was a private residence, and the police found a small amount of cocaine9 in plain view in an open area. However, there is no evidence that Heath was a resident of the dwelling, that he made any suspicious movements or uttered any incriminating statements, or that he observed, or could have observed, or knew, or should have known, about the cocaine at the bottom of the stairwell. Nor did the government present any other evidence linking Heath to the cocaine found at the bottom of the stairwell. As stated in Ybarra, a search of a person must be based on probable cause “particularized” to that person. 444 U.S. *71at 91, 100 S.Ct. 338. “[M]ere propinquity to others independently suspected of criminal activity” does not create probable cause particularized to the others present. Id.
The majority in Part II accepts the finding below that the cocaine near Summer-sett is attributable to him and not to Heath. Because the government did not offer any evidence to support a finding that the cocaine lying at the bottom of the stairs at the time of their entry — which may not have been present before their entry — was attributable to Heath, or that he knew or could have known about it, the government and the majority in Part II are left with the argument that Heath’s mere presence in the residence (not in proximity to, or within sight of, the cocaine) is sufficient for a finding of probable cause to arrest and search him. This argument has been rejected by the Supreme Court. See, e.g., Ybarra, 444 U.S. at 91, 100 S.Ct. 338.
Therefore, on the record before this Court, I would affirm the ruling of the district court regarding the lack of probable cause to arrest Heath. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent from Parts I and II of the opinion.
However, given the majority’s opinion in Part II, I concur in Part III of Judge Calabresi’s opinion because the record before us does not support the conclusion that the police would have inevitably arrested Heath on the basis of the alternative source of probable cause discussed in Part II.

. Notably, Paul did not see the three dime bags of cocaine at the top or the bottom of the stairs when he entered the residence, secured the stairway, climbed the stairs, and secured Summersett at the top of the stairs.

. The majority in Part II reads the second answer of Paul as adding a third location. However, the second answer supports the two-location finding if it is read as a general statement that there was cocaine on the stairwell, followed by the identification of the two specific places on the stairwell. The magistrate judge heard the testimony and inflection, and she made a factual finding that the cocaine was found at two locations. United States v. Heath, No. 04-CR-6009T, slip op. at 4 (W.D.N.Y. May 25, 2004) (“Heath I”).

. While later in her Report the magistrate judge's reference to this factual finding and the inferences she draws from it are not as precise, see Heath I at 15, her earlier factual finding discussed above makes it clear that she is referring to all of the bags of cocaine that Paul eventually discovered. Id. at 4. Of course, to the extent this is unclear, these factual findings and inferences must be read in a light most favorable to the prevailing party below (i.e.Heath) requiring the conclusion that the magistrate judge was referring to all of the cocaine discovered. See United States v. Harrell, 268 F.3d 141, 145 (2d Cir. 2001).

. The majority in Part II of the opinion reads the record and lower court rulings narrowly, suggesting the only place that Summerset dropped cocaine was upstairs. However, the discovery of one dime bag in the living room, three at the foot of the stairs, and several at the top of the stairs outside a bathroom with a running toilet, supports the inference that Summerset went upstairs with the dime bags, dropping some on the way.

. This latter conclusion is significant. The term "drug house” is, to this writer, a term of art. A drug house is a dwelling that is not a home, but rather is a place dedicated to the sale of drugs. Being present in a "drug house” would permit inferences that would not necessarily follow from mere presence in a house in which people reside, but from which drugs had been sold on two prior occasions.

. The only possible exception may be Holly-field. There, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's suppression decision in a two paragraph, per curiam opinion, holding that ''[pjrobable cause was given by the marijuana smoking paraphernalia in plain view in the apartment in which the arrest took place." 407 F.2d at 1326. No further description of the circumstances of the arrest are offered by the court.

. See supra note 1.

. The majority in Part II distinguishes these cases from the instant case by noting that they each dealt with conduct that was "on its face, innocent." Maj. Op. (Part II) at 61-62. However, Heath's conduct was similarly innocent. See Heath I at 15 ("The record before this Court shows simply this: at mid-day, Heath was sitting on a bed, with a cell phone to this [sic] ear, in a closed upstairs bedroom where a bag of marijuana was hidden behind a mirror and a firearm concealed in a dresser drawer.").

. The majority in Part II refers to the cocaine in the house as a "relatively large quantity of drugs.” Maj. Op. (Part II) at 58 n.4. However, the several dime bags located in the house could be estimated to total approximately a gram or two, certainly not a "large" quantity when compared to the quantities often encountered in drug possession cases. Compare United States v. Gamble, 388 F.3d 74, 77 (2d Cir.2004)(referring to 1.7 grams of cocaine base in 26 ziplock bags as a "small amount of drugs”), with United States v. Lewis, 386 F.3d 475, 478 (2d Cir.2004)(referring to five kilograms or more of cocaine as a "large amount[] ... of cocaine.”).