State v. Quevedo ( 2014 )

#26666-a-LSW
2014 S.D. 6
IN THE SUPREME COURT
OF THE
STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA
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STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA, Plaintiff and Appellee,
v.
ALISIA JUANA QUEVEDO, Defendant and Appellant.
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APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF
THE FOURTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
MEADE COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA
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THE HONORABLE JEROME A. ECKRICH, III
Judge
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MARTY J. JACKLEY
Attorney General
BETHANY L. ERICKSON
Assistant Attorney General
Pierre, South Dakota Attorneys for plaintiff
and appellee.
RENA M. HYMANS
Sturgis, South Dakota Attorney for defendant
and appellant.
****
CONSIDERED ON BRIEFS
ON JANUARY 14, 2014
OPINION FILED 02/12/14
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WILBUR, Justice
[¶1.] Alisia Quevedo appeals the circuit court’s denial of her motion to
suppress evidence. Because law enforcement officers constitutionally entered the
Black Hawk home to arrest both Quevedo and Yellow Eagle, the circuit court
properly denied the suppression of evidence obtained as a result of her arrest. We
affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
[¶2.] On April 2, 2012, a federal court issued an arrest warrant for
Christopher Yellow Eagle for a supervised release violation. When law enforcement
had previously served an arrest warrant on Yellow Eagle for an unrelated offense,
he had attempted to hide or flee in order to avoid being arrested. 1
[¶3.] Yellow Eagle’s arrest warrant was referred to the Rapid City Area
Joint Fugitive Task Force (task force). Participants in the task force include, among
others, the United States Marshals Service, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office,
and the Meade County Sheriff’s Office.
[¶4.] In search of Yellow Eagle, the task force officers went to Yellow Eagle’s
mother’s home on April 4, 2012. Yellow Eagle’s mother informed the officers that
Yellow Eagle was living with his girlfriend, Quevedo, at her home in Black Hawk,
located in Meade County, South Dakota. The task force officers checked
department databases and were able to find an address in Black Hawk for Quevedo.
1. On another occasion, law enforcement apprehended Yellow Eagle while he
was in a bathroom flushing a toilet. Once in the bathroom, authorities
located a bag of what appeared to be methamphetamine and Yellow Eagle’s
identification card near the toilet.
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In conducting this research, the officers also learned that a state warrant for
Quevedo’s arrest had been issued in Meade County. The warrant, issued February
16, 2012, was for Quevedo’s arrest for her failure to appear for a sentencing hearing
for driving with a suspended license pursuant to SDCL 32-12-65. The information
was relayed electronically to the task force officers, who did not have a physical copy
of Quevedo’s arrest warrant. The warrant was addressed to “any law enforcement
officer in the State of South Dakota.”
[¶5.] Federal and Pennington County officers, and members of the task
force, arrived at the address provided to them by the department databases.
Deputy United States Marshal Cole Willnerd, who was present at the address and
who ran the license plate on at least one of the vehicles parked at the address,
testified that he could not recall the identity of the registered owner of the vehicle.
[¶6.] The officers knocked on the door of the home for a period of time before
the couple’s 12-year-old son answered the door. When asked by the officers, the
child confirmed that Yellow Eagle and Quevedo were both in the house. 2 Based on
this information, the task force officers entered the home. Once in the back
bedroom, the officers observed that both Quevedo and Yellow Eagle appeared to be
2. Deputy United States Marshal Willnerd and the couple’s 12-year-old son
testified at the August 27, 2012 evidentiary hearing. Deputy Willnerd
testified that when the couple’s son answered the door, Deputy Willnerd
“identified [himself], told [the couple’s son] who [he] was, told him [they] had
a warrant for Christopher Yellow Eagle, and [Deputy Willnerd] asked [the
couple’s son] if Christopher Yellow Eagle was there.” The couple’s 12-year-
old son testified that when the task force arrived at the home, the officers
asked “Is your mom and dad home?” The circuit court noted that “While
there is some dispute about what specifically took place during the exchange,
the officers corroborated the presence of Mr. Yellow Eagle and [Quevedo] and
subsequently entered the home.”
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under the influence of a controlled substance and they had drugs on their persons.
Yellow Eagle told the officers that there were more drugs and paraphernalia in the
home. The circuit court later granted a search warrant of the home.
[¶7.] Quevedo was charged with possession of a controlled substance in
violation of SDCL 22-42-5. Quevedo filed a motion to suppress evidence—the
subject of this appeal. Two evidentiary hearings on the motion were held on August
27, 2012 and October 25, 2012. Quevedo argued that federal and Pennington
County law enforcement, who effectuated the arrest warrant, were not authorized
to arrest her. She further alleged that the task force officers’ entrance into her
home violated the United States Constitution and the South Dakota Constitution
because Yellow Eagle was a third party in her home, requiring the officers to obtain
a separate search warrant for the home. Accordingly, she argued that all evidence
gained after the officers’ entrance into her home should have been suppressed. The
circuit court denied her motion concluding that the officers had the authority to
effectuate Quevedo’s arrest and that the officers constitutionally entered the Black
Hawk home to arrest Quevedo. Additionally, the circuit court concluded that the
officers constitutionally entered the home to arrest Yellow Eagle, and alternatively,
exigent circumstances existed to justify the warrantless entry into the home to
arrest Yellow Eagle.
[¶8.] On January 24, 2013, a court trial based on stipulated facts took place.
Quevedo was convicted of possession of a controlled substance and subsequently
sentenced to four years in the state penitentiary with four years suspended.
Quevedo now appeals the circuit court’s denial of her motion to suppress.
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STANDARD OF REVIEW
[¶9.] “A motion to suppress for an alleged violation of a constitutionally
protected right raises a question of law, requiring de novo review.” State v. Heney,
2013 S.D. 77, ¶ 8, 839 N.W.2d 558, 561 (quoting State v. Hess, 2004 S.D. 60, ¶ 9, 680
N.W.2d 314, 319). “Factual findings of the lower court are reviewed under the
clearly erroneous standard, but once those facts have been determined, ‘the
application of a legal standard to those facts is a question of law reviewed de novo.’”
Id. ¶ 8, 839 N.W.2d at 561-62 (quoting Hess, 2004 S.D. 60, ¶ 9, 680 N.W.2d at 319).
“In this case, [Quevedo] does not contend that any of the [circuit] court’s findings of
fact are clearly erroneous. Therefore, we review this matter de novo.” State v.
Rademaker, 2012 S.D. 28, ¶ 7, 813 N.W.2d 174, 176 (quoting State v. Quartier, 2008
S.D. 62, ¶ 9, 753 N.W.2d 885, 888).
DECISION
[¶10.] Quevedo argues that the federal and Pennington County law
enforcement officers, who executed the arrest warrant, were not authorized to enter
her home to arrest her. Additionally, she contends that if this Court determines
that task force officers had the authority to arrest her, she was deprived of her
“constitutional right to be free from search and seizure in her own home.” Quevedo
alleges that Yellow Eagle was a third party in her home requiring the officers to
obtain a separate search warrant for the home. She also argues that no exception to
the search warrant requirement applies. Accordingly, Quevedo argues that all
evidence seized from her home should have been suppressed.
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[¶11.] In addressing Quevedo’s arguments, we must first examine what
authority task force officers had to execute Quevedo and Yellow Eagle’s arrest
warrants. Deputy United States Marshals have the legal authority to participate in
joint federal-state fugitive task forces in order to arrest state fugitives based on
state warrants. 28 U.S.C.A. 566(e)(1)(B) (granting the power to “investigate such
fugitive matters, both within and outside the United States, as directed by the
Attorney General”); Authority of FBI Agents, Serving as Special Deputy U.S.
Marshals, to Pursue Non-Federal Fugitives, 1995 WL 944018, *6-7, 19 Op. O.L.C.
33, (1995). Deputy United States Marshals have the authority, “in executing the
laws of the United States within a State[,]” to “exercise the same powers which a
sheriff of the State may exercise in executing the laws” of that state. 28 U.S.C.A.
564.
[¶12.] Additionally, South Dakota law provides federal law enforcement
officers with the same authority as state and local law enforcement officers in South
Dakota when making an arrest as part of a joint federal-state task force:
Any federal law enforcement officer holds the same authority as
a state or local law enforcement officer in this state when
making an arrest for a nonfederal crime under any of the
following circumstances:
....
(3) The officer is participating in a task force composed of state
or local law enforcement officers and federal law enforcement
officers.
SDCL 23A-3-25. Further, South Dakota law states that an arrest warrant shall be
executed by any law enforcement officer who is authorized by law to execute the
warrant. SDCL 23A-2-7 (stating “[a] warrant . . . shall be executed by any law
enforcement officer who is authorized by law to execute the same”).
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[¶13.] Here, the record reveals that the task force is comprised of federal and
state law enforcement agencies, including the United States Marshals Service,
Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, and Meade County Sherriff’s Office. The task
force officers, who executed Quevedo’s and Yellow Eagle’s arrest warrants, were
officers from the United States Marshals Service and Pennington County Sheriff’s
Office. Federal and state law authorizes federal officers participating in task forces
to execute state and local warrants. 28 U.S.C.A. 564, 566(e)(1)(B); SDCL 23A-2-7,
23A-3-25. Thus, the officers participating in the task force had the authority to
execute state and federal warrants, including Quevedo’s state warrant and Yellow
Eagle’s federal warrant.
[¶14.] In addition, the task force officers constitutionally entered Quevedo’s
home to arrest her on her outstanding warrant. “The Fourth Amendment generally
requires a warrant based upon probable cause to support the search and seizure of a
person.” State v. Bonacker, 2013 S.D. 3, ¶ 9, 825 N.W.2d 916, 919. For Fourth
Amendment purposes, “[a] valid arrest warrant carries with it the implicit but
limited authority to enter the residence of the person named in the warrant in order
to execute that warrant.” United States v. Risse, 83 F.3d 212, 215 (8th Cir. 1996)
(citing Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 603, 100 S. Ct. 1371, 1388-89, 63 L. Ed. 2d
639 (1980)). “Under Payton, officers executing an arrest warrant must have a
‘reasonable belief that the suspect resides at the place to be entered . . . and have
reason to believe that the suspect is present’ at the time the warrant is executed.”
Id. at 216 (quoting United States v. Lauter, 57 F.3d 212, 215 (2d Cir. 1995)).
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[¶15.] The task force officers reasonably believed that both Quevedo and
Yellow Eagle resided at the Black Hawk address. Initially, the task force officers
sought to arrest Yellow Eagle on a federal arrest warrant. In their investigation as
to where Yellow Eagle was residing, the officers learned from Yellow Eagle’s mother
that Yellow Eagle was living with Quevedo. Deputy United States Marshal
Willnerd testified that the task force officers conducted a search of department
databases and were able to locate an address for Quevedo in Black Hawk. It was
during this database search that the officers learned of Quevedo’s state arrest
warrant, which was addressed to “any law enforcement officer in the State of South
Dakota.”
[¶16.] The task force officers also possessed a reasonable belief that Quevedo
and Yellow Eagle were present in the Black Hawk home when officers executed
Yellow Eagle’s warrant. Upon arrival, the officers established through Quevedo and
Yellow Eagle’s son that Quevedo and Yellow Eagle were, in fact, inside the home.
Based on Quevedo’s valid arrest warrant and her presence in her home at the time
of the execution of Yellow Eagle’s warrant, the officers were justified in entering
Quevedo’s home to arrest her.
[¶17.] Moreover, even if the task force officers were not authorized to enter
the Black Hawk home to arrest Quevedo on her arrest warrant, officers were
authorized to constitutionally enter the Black Hawk home in order to arrest Yellow
Eagle and to use any evidence found against Quevedo. Indeed, Yellow Eagle was a
co-resident of Quevedo’s home. Risse, 83 F.3d at 215 (8th Cir. 1996) (citing Payton,
445 U.S. at 603, 100 S. Ct. at 1388-89) (stating “[a] valid arrest warrant carries with
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it the implicit but limited authority to enter the residence of the person named in
the warrant in order to execute that warrant”). “[A]bsent exigent circumstances or
consent, an arrest warrant does not justify entry into a third person’s home to
search for the subject of the arrest warrant.” Risse, 83 F.3d at 215 (citing Steagald
v. United States, 451 U.S. 204, 215-16, 101 S. Ct. 1642, 1649-50, 68 L. Ed. 2d 38
(1981)). “However, ‘if the suspect is a co-resident of the third party, then Steagald
does not apply and Payton allows both arrest of the subject of the arrest warrant
and use of the evidence found against the third party.’” Id. at 216 (quoting United
States v. Litteral, 910 F.2d 547, 553 (9th Cir. 1990)).
[¶18.] The record demonstrates that the task force officers reasonably
believed that Yellow Eagle resided with Quevedo at the Black Hawk address “for
some time.” Yellow Eagle’s mother told the officers that Yellow Eagle was living
with his girlfriend, Quevedo. Quevedo’s address was confirmed by a search of law
enforcement databases. Further, when the officers arrived at the Black Hawk
home, Quevedo and Yellow Eagle’s son confirmed that Quevedo and Yellow Eagle
were inside the home. The officers entered the bedroom and it was apparent that
both Quevedo and Yellow Eagle were under the influence of a controlled substance.
The task force officers constitutionally entered the Black Hawk home to arrest
Quevedo, or alternatively, Yellow Eagle. The circuit court properly denied the
suppression of evidence obtained as a result of the arrests. Quevedo’s other
argument to this Court is, therefore, without merit. We affirm.
[¶19.] GILBERTSON, Chief Justice, and KONENKAMP, ZINTER and
SEVERSON, Justices, concur.
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