F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
DEC 17 1999
TENTH CIRCUIT
__________________________ PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v. No. 99-4046
(D. Utah)
JESUS JOSE MACIAS, (D.Ct. No. 98-CR-355-01-K)
Defendant-Appellant.
____________________________
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before SEYMOUR, BALDOCK, and BRORBY Circuit Judges.
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of
this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is
therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
Appellant Jesus Jose Macias entered a conditional plea of guilty to one
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent except under the doctrines of
law of the case, res judicata and collateral estoppel. The court generally disfavors the
citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order and judgment may be cited under
the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute in violation
of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and was sentenced to seventy-eight months
imprisonment and sixty months supervised release. Mr. Macias now appeals the
trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress. We exercise jurisdiction under 28
U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.
BACKGROUND
On February 27, 1998, Deputy Salt Lake County Sheriff Dave Broadhead
supervised several deputies in an attempted undercover purchase of marijuana.
The officers made arrangements to purchase twenty pounds of marijuana from two
men, neither of whom was Mr. Macias. After meeting with the officers, the two
suspects were eventually followed to a location later determined to be Mr.
Macias’ residence. The suspects were observed entering Mr. Macias’ residence,
then returning to their vehicle carrying a large orange garbage bag which
appeared to be full. After leaving Mr. Macias’ residence, the suspects realized
they were being followed. A high-speed chase ensued resulting in the
apprehension and arrest of the two men. During the chase, the orange garbage
bag was thrown from the suspects’ vehicle. The bag was subsequently recovered
by officers and determined to be full of marijuana.
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Approximately thirty minutes after the suspects were observed leaving Mr.
Macias’ residence, Deputy Broadhead led a group of officers back to the
residence, where he knocked on the door and announced his presence. Mr.
Macias’ girlfriend, Angelica Munoz, answered the door. 1 The testimony of Ms.
Munoz and Deputy Broadhead differs substantially as to what happened next, but
the district court determined Ms. Munoz allowed the officers to enter the
residence, either through express words of consent, or through her actions by
stepping back and opening the door after Deputy Broadhead asked for permission
to enter. Upon entering the home, Deputy Broadhead smelled marijuana and
asked Ms. Munoz if there was marijuana in the home, to which she replied “there
could be.” During a subsequent protective search of the home, Deputy Broadhead
observed numerous orange bags full of marijuana in the basement. Deputy
Broadhead then left the residence to obtain a search warrant while the other
officers remained at the house. The search warrant was issued, and Deputy
Broadhead returned to the house to participate in the search. The officers
ultimately seized several firearms in addition to the marijuana from the basement.
Mr. Macias filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized from his home
1
Ms. Munoz married Mr. Macias prior to the suppression hearing, but we will
refer to her herein as Ms. Munoz.
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on the grounds “the information which forms the basis of the affidavit in support
of the search warrant[] was obtained as a result of a search of the premises
without consent and without a search warrant, in violation of the Fourth
Amendment to the United States Constitution.” The district court, after briefing
by the parties and an evidentiary hearing, denied Mr. Macias’ motion. The court
determined the officers had at least implied consent to enter the home; the
protective sweep constituted an illegal search; the warrant was valid based on the
probable cause the officers had prior to entering the home and conducting the
illegal protective sweep; and despite its initial discovery during the illegal search,
the marijuana was admissible under the “inevitable discovery” doctrine. After
issuance of the court’s order, Mr. Macias entered a conditional plea of guilty to
one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute in
violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), preserving his right to appeal the trial court’s
denial of his motion.
DISCUSSION
This case presents two basic issues as they relate to the district court’s
denial of Mr. Macias’ motion to suppress: (1) whether the warrant, when stripped
of evidence obtained through the illegal protective search, was supported by
sufficient probable cause; and (2) whether the fruits of the illegal protective
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search – the orange garbage sacks full of marijuana – can be saved through the
doctrines of good faith, inevitable discovery, or independent source. 2
When reviewing a district court’s denial of a motion to suppress, we accept
the court’s factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous and consider the
evidence in the light most favorable to the government. However, we review de
novo the reasonableness of a search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment.
See United States v. Flores, 149 F.3d 1272, 1277 (10th Cir. 1998), cert. denied,
119 S. Ct. 849 (1999). When reviewing a finding of probable cause for the
issuance of a search warrant, we “must consider the totality of the circumstances
and determine whether the affidavit established the probability that evidence of
criminal activity would be located in the desired search area.” United States v.
2
Mr. Macias spends a good deal of energy in his brief arguing the protective
sweep doctrine does not apply in this case. This issue is not before us on appeal because
the district court agreed with Mr. Macias and held the search of the home was an illegal
search and did not qualify as a protective sweep. In addition, the government does not
argue the point in its brief. Therefore, our decision assumes, without deciding, the search
of the home was not a valid protective search.
We take a similar position with Mr. Macias’ argument that the officers’ initial
entry into his home was not consensual. We need not decide this issue in order to uphold
the district court’s determination the warrant was supported by probable cause based on
evidence obtained prior to the entry into the house. As such, we refuse to reach the issue
of consent. We ignore the evidence concerning the aroma of marijuana, and Ms.
Munoz’s statement to the officers that marijuana might have been in the house.
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Wittgenstein, 163 F.3d 1164, 1171 (10th Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 119 S. Ct. 2355
(1999). The issuing magistrate judge’s determination that probable cause exists is
entitled to “great deference such that we ask only whether the issuing magistrate
had a substantial basis for determining probable cause existed.” Id. at 1172
(quotation marks and citations omitted).
The affidavit supporting the search warrant in this case contained
information the district court determined was illegally obtained pursuant to the
improper “protective search.” The affidavit also included information the officers
obtained prior to entering Mr. Macias’ home. “An affidavit containing erroneous
or unconstitutionally obtained information invalidates a warrant if that
information was critical to establishing probable cause. If, however, the affidavit
contained sufficient accurate or untainted evidence, the warrant is nevertheless
valid.” United States v. Snow, 919 F.2d 1458, 1460 (10th Cir. 1990) (citing
United States v. Karo, 468 U.S. 705, 719 (1984)).
The affidavit in this case, when stripped of the inappropriately obtained
information, provided sufficient probable cause to support issuance of the
warrant. The affidavit meticulously detailed Deputy Broadhead’s training and
experience in law enforcement and the facts surrounding the attempted
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undercover purchase of marijuana. Specifically, the affidavit makes the following
assertions: (1) the suspects offered to sell undercover officers twenty pounds of
marijuana; (2) the suspects were later observed entering Mr. Macias’ home; (3)
the suspects then exited the residence carrying a large plastic orange trash bag;
(4) when officers attempted to stop the suspects’ vehicle, a short chase ensued,
during which time the orange bag was thrown from the vehicle; (5) officers
recovered the bag and determined it contained a large amount of marijuana.
Deputy Broadhead stated in the affidavit that “[b]ased on the previous
observations of the orange plastic bag coming from the residence sought to be
searched, detectives felt that there was a strong possibility that additional
narcotics were being stored at the residence.” We have no difficulty in
determining, given the untainted evidence listed in the affidavit, the issuing
magistrate or judge had a “substantial basis” for finding probable cause, and
therefore the warrant was valid. 3 Cf. United States v. Anderson, 981 F.2d 1560,
3
Because we hold the warrant was valid, we do not reach Mr. Macias’ arguments
in relation to the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule. Mr. Macias also argues
the search warrant affidavit intentionally or recklessly omitted material facts in violation
of Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154 (1978). While this issue was very briefly raised at
the district court in the context of the good- faith argument, Mr. Macias raises it as an
independent ground for holding the warrant facially invalid for the first time on appeal.
In support of his position, Mr. Macias relies primarily on the fact the affidavit did not
mention the suspects rendezvoused with a vehicle and exchanged a package with the
occupants of said vehicle prior to driving to Mr. Macias’ residence. This is not a material
fact as to the probable cause to search the residence – regardless of what occurred prior to
arriving at Mr. Macias’ home, the suspects were observed entering the residence, then
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1569 (10th Cir. 1992) (probable cause did not exist to search residence when
officers did not see suspect leave residence with bowl later determined to hold
marijuana); United States v. Shomo, 786 F.2d 981, 984 (10th Cir. 1986) (officers
did have probable cause to search residence for gun when resident seen leaving
home with gun).
Having decided all the evidence from Mr. Macias’ home was ultimately
seized pursuant to a valid warrant, we now turn to whether the marijuana evidence
was admissible despite the illegal origins of its discovery. This evidence “is not
automatically subject to suppression under the exclusionary rule.” United States
v. Eylicio-Montoya, 70 F.3d 1158, 1164-65 (10th Cir. 1995). We have “identified
several circumstances in which evidence obtained following a Fourth Amendment
violation is not subject to suppression,” including situations where “illegally
seized evidence ... was also lawfully obtained through an independent source” and
“‘when ... the evidence in question would inevitably have been discovered
without reference to the police error or misconduct.’” Id. at 1165 (quoting Nix v.
Williams, 467 U.S. 431, 448 (1984)) (internal citations omitted). Citing Nix, the
district court determined the evidence was admissible under the inevitable
leaving with a large bag of what turned out to be marijuana. Mr. Macias’ argument in
this regard has no merit – the facts omitted from the affidavit are immaterial.
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discovery doctrine. We exercise our discretion “to affirm a district court decision
on any grounds for which there is a record sufficient to permit conclusions of law,
even grounds not relied upon by the district court,” United States v. Sandoval, 29
F.3d 537, 542 n.6 (10th Cir. 1994), and hold the evidence was admissible under
the closely-related independent source doctrine.
“The independent source doctrine permits the introduction of ‘evidence
initially discovered during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful search, but later
obtained independently from activities untainted by the initial illegality.’” United
States v. Griffin, 48 F.3d 1147, 1150 (10th Cir.) (quoting Murray v. United States,
487 U.S. 533, 537 (1988)), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1168 (1995). This doctrine
rests “upon the policy that, while the government should not profit from its illegal
activity, neither should it be placed in a worse position than it would otherwise
have occupied.” Murray, 487 U.S. at 542. Given Deputy Broadhead’s
independent knowledge that a large garbage bag full of marijuana had been taken
from Mr. Macias’ residence, which created sufficient probable cause to search the
residence prior to the improper protective sweep, the evidence seized pursuant to
the valid warrant was admissible. See United States v. Hogan, 38 F.3d 1148,
1150-51 (10th Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 514 U.S. 1008 (1995).
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Accordingly, we AFFIRM the district court’s denial of the suppression
motion.
Entered by the Court:
WADE BRORBY
United States Circuit Judge
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