United States v. Wake , 318 F. App'x 658 ( 2009 )

FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
March 27, 2009
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
TENTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee, No. 08-3254
v. (D.C. No. 06-CR-20079-CM-1)
BERNOID WAKE, III, (D. Kan.)
Defendant-Appellant.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before TACHA, McKAY, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
Defendant pled guilty to possessing crack cocaine with intent to distribute
and was sentenced to a 151-month term of imprisonment. On appeal, he
challenges the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence seized
from his residence pursuant to a warrant.
The warrant Defendant challenges was issued on May 31, 2006, and
executed early in the morning on June 1, 2006. The affidavit in support of the
warrant attested that the police department had received numerous complaints
over the past year about Defendant and his brother manufacturing and selling a
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited,
however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th
Cir. R. 32.1.
This case was ordered submitted on the briefs on February 3, 2009.
large amount of crack cocaine. Around the third week of May, the department
had received an anonymous complaint about drug activity occurring at a residence
on Spruce Street in Leavenworth, Kansas. An officer conducted surveillance at
that address and observed Defendant going in and out of the residence several
times. The officer also ran a records check on Defendant and learned that on two
occasions in 2004 officers had discovered cocaine or marijuana in Defendant’s
possession or in areas where he had recently been. The affidavit further stated
that on May 29, 2006, the officer observed a plume of smoke when Defendant left
his Spruce Street residence. The officer then smelled the odor of burnt marijuana
in the air, and he observed that the odor of burnt marijuana was strongest when he
stood directly in front of Defendant’s residence. Finally, the affidavit attested
that on May 30, 2006, the officer collected two bags of trash that had been placed
at the curb in front of Defendant’s residence for disposal. The officer found
several items in the trash bags that were consistent with drug use and distribution,
including a plastic liner covered in green vegetation that field-tested positive for
marijuana, plastic baggies that were missing their corners, a baggie containing a
white substance that field-tested positive for cocaine, and a large amount of loose
cigar tobacco mixed with green vegetation.
Defendant argued before the district court and re-argues on appeal that the
warrant was invalid because the affidavit was based on stale and anonymous
information and information obtained through an unlawful search of his trash. In
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reviewing the district court’s denial of his suppression motion, we accept the
court’s factual findings unless clearly erroneous and review questions of law de
novo. United States v. Gonzales, 399 F.3d 1225, 1228 (10th Cir. 2005). “The
ultimate question of whether a search and seizure was reasonable under the Fourth
Amendment is a question of law reviewed de novo.” United States v. Glover, 104
F.3d 1570, 1576 (10th Cir. 1997).
We first consider the legality of the warrantless search of Defendant’s trash
the day before the search warrant was issued. Defendant contended at the
suppression hearing and maintains on appeal that the trash bags at issue were
located beside a mailbox on his front porch and that the officer impermissibly
entered his yard and removed the bags from his front porch. The officer initially
testified that the trash bags were located next to a mailbox by the curb, and the
evidence introduced at the hearing suggested a possible discrepancy regarding the
location of the mailbox. However, the district court found that the trash bags
were located outside of the fence and by the curb as had been stated in the
affidavit. The court also noted that affidavit did not mention the mailbox and
thus the location of the mailbox had not affected the state court’s probable cause
determination. A review of the record reveals ample evidence to support the
district court’s factual finding that the trash bags were located by the curb, and
we therefore concluded that Defendant’s constitutional rights were not violated
by the officer’s removal and search of the trash bags. See California v.
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Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35, 40-41 (1988) (holding that an individual has no
reasonable expectation of privacy in items found in plastic garbage bags left on or
at the side of a public street).
As for Defendant’s argument that the warrant was invalid because the
affidavit included information received from anonymous sources, the cases he
cites involved warrants that relied solely on anonymous information. Here, the
anonymous reports of Defendant’s drug trafficking were corroborated by the
officer’s detection of the odor of marijuana in front of Defendant’s residence and
his discovery of drug residue and apparent drug paraphernalia in Defendant’s
trash. We thus see no error in the inclusion of information received from
anonymous sources in the search warrant. See United States v. Danhauer, 229
F.3d 1002, 1006 (10th Cir. 2000) (“When there is sufficient independent
corroboration of an informant’s information, there is no need to establish the
veracity of the informant.”); United States v. Berrocal, No. 00-4001, 2000 WL
1629437, *2 (10th Cir. Oct. 31, 2000) (unpublished) (holding that a citizen
informant’s report of drug trafficking was corroborated by an officer’s trash pull
that revealed numerous items associated with methamphetamine manufacturing).
Likewise, we see no error in the inclusion of information regarding
Defendant’s possession of drugs on two occasions two years before the warrant
was issued. Although such information would not in itself justify the issuance of
a search warrant, its inclusion does not invalidate an otherwise valid warrant.
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The affidavit included ample information supporting probable cause regardless of
this historical information. Moreover, we note that “otherwise stale information
may be refreshed by more recent events” and that, “[w]hen the circumstances
suggest ongoing criminal activity, the passage of time recedes in importance.”
United States v. Cantu, 405 F.3d 1173, 1177-78 (10th Cir. 2005).
For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the district court’s denial of
Defendant’s suppression motion. Defendant’s conviction and sentence are
AFFIRMED.
Entered for the Court
Monroe G. McKay
Circuit Judge
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