NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
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No. 10-2488
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
WALTER FIELDS,
Appellant
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. Criminal No. 2-09-cr-00109-001)
District Judge: Honorable Paul S. Diamond
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Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
September 12, 2011
Before: RENDELL, JORDAN and BARRY, Circuit Judges.
(Opinion Filed: September 12, 2011 )
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OPINION OF THE COURT
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RENDELL, Circuit Judge.
Appellant Walter Fields (“Fields”) pled guilty and was sentenced in the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania for unlawful possession of a firearm. Pursuant to his plea
agreement, he reserved the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress physical
evidence that he possessed a gun. He is now exercising this right and challenges the
denial of his motion to suppress on two grounds: (1) the Court erred in denying his
motion on the grounds that the investigative detention was not elevated to the level of an
arrest and (2) the Court erred in holding that the inevitable discovery doctrine allowed the
seizure of the firearm to be consistent with the Fourth Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution. This Court reviews factual findings underlying a motion to suppress for
clear error and exercises plenary review over a district court’s application of the law to
those facts. United States v. Perez, 280 F.3d 318, 336 (3d Cir. 2002). We have appellate
jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C § 1291.
On the evening of January 24, 2009, Officers Crawford, Czapor, and DeLaurentis
(“Officers”) were patrolling a high-crime area in a marked patrol car when they observed
Fields leave 3419 North A Street, an abandoned property which had been the subject of
several neighborhood complaints of drug dealing. The Officers got out of the car and
followed Fields who, upon seeing the Officers, began to flee. Officer Crawford caught
up to Fields in an alley after he fell facedown on the ground. Fields kept his hands
beneath the lower portion of his body and refused to show them. The Officers feared
Fields was trying to reach for a weapon or attempting to discard some object. After
unsuccessful attempts to get Fields’ arms free, Officer Czapor shocked Fields twice with
a taser. The Officers handcuffed him, lifted him to his feet, frisked him, and removed
him from the area before returning to the alley with a flashlight. Within a minute, Officer
Czapor found a Glock 22 handgun on the ground where Fields had fallen.
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Fields was indicted by a grand jury for the possession of a firearm by a convicted
felon in violation of 18 U.S.C § 922(g).1 Fields moved to suppress the firearm, but the
Court denied his motion. He pled guilty pursuant to a plea agreement in which he
preserved his right to appeal from the District Court’s denial of his suppression motion.
On May 21, 2010, the District Court sentenced Fields to 120 months in prison, 3 years
supervised release, $1,600 fine, and a $100 special assessment. This appeal followed.
Appellant raises two challenges to the denial of his motion to suppress as noted
above. As to the former question, the District Court concluded that the Officers did not
arrest Fields when they deployed the taser. Under the circumstances, the Officers acted
reasonably in subduing Fields so that they could conduct a Terry frisk and their actions
were “sufficiently limited in scope to satisfy the conditions of an investigatory stop,” thus
not developing into a de facto arrest. Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 500 (1983).
Accordingly, the abandonment of the gun was the “fruit” of a lawful Terry stop and was,
therefore, admissible. See California v. Hodari D., 499 U.S. 621, 629 (1991).
Under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968), a
police officer may conduct a “brief, investigatory stop when the officer has a reasonable,
articulable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot,” without violating the Fourth
Amendment. Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119, 123 (2000) (discussing Terry, 392 U.S.
1
18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) provides:
It shall be unlawful for any person -- who has been convicted in any court
of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year; …
to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or
affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm
or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or
foreign commerce.
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at 30). In determining whether there is reasonable suspicion, we examine the totality of
the circumstances and consider both a “particularized and objective basis for suspecting
the particular person stopped of criminal activity” as well as, a trained officer’s
commonsense judgments and inferences about human behavior. United States v. Cortez,
449 U.S. 411, 417-18 (1981). Pertinent factors that an officer may consider include
whether the area is a high-crime area, a suspect’s nervous or evasive behavior, and flight
from police officers. Wardlow, 528 U.S. at 124.
Fields argues that the gun was the result of an unlawful arrest, and should have
been suppressed. Fields does not dispute that the Officers had a reasonable suspicion of
criminal activity and were permitted to conduct an investigatory stop under Terry.
Rather, he argues that the use of the taser converted the stop into an arrest and the
Officers lacked probable cause, a standard that requires more information than that
needed to support reasonable suspicion.
Terry stops are permitted so that police officers can ensure their own safety, along
with the safety of the public. Terry, 392 U.S. at 29. Here, the Officers responded to their
belief that Fields was reaching for a weapon. Their actions were consistent with the
actions of a reasonably prudent person under the belief that their own safety and the
safety of others was at risk. Use of physical force after less aggressive means were
unsuccessful did not elevate the stop into an arrest. Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386,
396 (1989). (“the right to make an arrest or investigatory stop necessarily carries with it
the right to use some degree of physical coercion or threat thereof to effect it”). Under
the circumstances, the Officers had a reasonable suspicion and therefore attempted a
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Terry stop. Fields did not yield to the show of authority and created an environment
where the Officers felt threatened; therefore, the use of physical force was reasonable
under the objective reasonableness standard. Id. at 388. The Court did not err in denying
the motion to suppress on the grounds that the investigative detention was not elevated to
the level of an arrest.
The second issue raised by Fields involves the Court’s alternative holding that the
recovery of the weapon would have passed constitutional muster under the inevitable
discovery doctrine. Under the that doctrine, “[i]f the prosecution can establish by a
preponderance of the evidence that the information ultimately or inevitably would have
been discovered by lawful means … then the deterrence rationale has so little basis that
the evidence should be received.” United States v. Vasquez De Reyes, 149 F.3d 192, 195
(3d Cir. 1998) (quotation omitted). Fields concedes in his argument that the Officers
were legally allowed to stop Fields and pat him down for their protection. If Fields had
cooperated, the gun would have been discovered during that investigation. Additionally,
the Officers believed Fields was trying to dispose of something in the alley; therefore, a
routine investigation of the alley would, and in this case did, lead to the discovery of the
weapon. Accordingly, under the inevitable discovery doctrine, the recovery of the
weapon was constitutional.
In light of the above, we will affirm.
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