United States v. Palmore , 358 F. App'x 403 ( 2009 )


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  •                               UNPUBLISHED
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
    No. 08-4503
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
    Plaintiff - Appellee,
    v.
    DONALD PALMORE,
    Defendant - Appellant.
    Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
    Maryland, at Greenbelt.    Deborah K. Chasanow, District Judge.
    (8:07-cr-00056-DKC-1)
    Submitted:    November 10, 2009            Decided:   December 23, 2009
    Before WILKINSON, KING, and AGEE, Circuit Judges.
    Vacated and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.
    Timothy   Litka,    LAW   OFFICE    OF   TIMOTHY LITKA, LLC,
    Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Rod J. Rosenstein, United
    States Attorney, Bryan E. Foreman, Assistant United States
    Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.
    Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
    PER CURIAM:
    Donald Palmore was convicted, by a jury, of possession
    of a firearm by a convicted felon, in violation of 
    18 U.S.C. § 922
    (g)        (2006).     The       district    court     sentenced         Palmore    to
    twenty-four months in prison.                On appeal, Palmore challenges the
    district court’s denial of his motion to suppress and moves this
    court to expedite his case.                  In light of the Supreme Court’s
    recent decision in Arizona v. Gant, 
    129 S. Ct. 1710
     (2009),
    which addressed the search-incident-to-arrest exception to the
    warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment, we find that the
    vehicle search incident to Palmore’s arrest was unreasonable. 1
    We accordingly vacate the district court’s judgment and remand
    for further proceedings.
    In Gant, the Supreme Court rejected the idea that the
    Fourth Amendment “allow[s] a vehicle search incident to arrest
    of   a       recent   occupant    even    if     there     is   no    possibility        the
    arrestee could gain access to the vehicle at the time of the
    search.”        Gant, 
    129 S. Ct. at 1718
    .             The Court held instead that
    “[p]olice may search a vehicle incident to a recent occupant’s
    arrest only if the arrestee is within reaching distance of the
    passenger        compartment     at    the     time   of    the      search    or   it    is
    1
    Gant was decided after Palmore appealed the criminal
    judgment. Thus, the district court did not have the benefit of
    the Supreme Court’s decision.
    2
    reasonable      to    believe      the    vehicle    contains    evidence    of   the
    offense of arrest.”            
    Id. at 1723
    .         The Court further explained
    that “[w]hen these justifications are absent, a search of an
    arrestee’s vehicle will be unreasonable unless police obtain a
    warrant    or        show   that      another       exception   to   the     warrant
    requirement applies.”           
    Id. at 1723-24
    .
    Palmore was not in reaching distance of the vehicle’s
    passenger compartment at the time of the search.                      Nor did the
    officers   have       reason    to    believe     that    the   vehicle    contained
    evidence of the offense of driving on a suspended license, for
    which he was arrested.             See 
    id. at 1719
     (“Gant was arrested for
    driving with a suspended license--an offense for which police
    could not expect to find evidence in the passenger compartment
    of Gant’s car.”).           As the Government commendably concedes, the
    facts of this case do not justify the warrantless search of the
    vehicle incident to his arrest.
    Accordingly,          we      vacate     the   criminal   judgment     and
    remand for further proceedings. 2                 We deny Palmore’s motion to
    expedite as moot.           We dispense with oral argument because the
    2
    Palmore raises another issue in this appeal, claiming that
    the district court erred by failing to give the jury a curative
    instruction after a witness testified that Palmore was a
    prohibited person in possession of a firearm.    Because we have
    concluded that the conviction should be vacated, we decline to
    consider this remaining issue.
    3
    facts   and   legal    contentions   are   adequately   presented    in   the
    materials     before   the   court   and   argument   would   not   aid   the
    decisional process.
    VACATED AND REMANDED
    4
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 08-4503

Citation Numbers: 358 F. App'x 403

Judges: Wilkinson, King, Agee

Filed Date: 12/23/2009

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 11/5/2024