United States v. Hudson

86 F.4th 806

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Javares L. HUDSON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 23-1108

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit

Argued September 26, 2023

Decided November 16, 2023

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. No. 22-cr-10006 — James E. Shadid, Judge.

Jeffrey Kienstra, Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Peoria, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Thomas Drysdale, Attorney, Office of the Federal Public Defender, Urbana, IL, for Defendant-Appellant.

Before Wood, Scudder, and St. Eve, Circuit Judges.

St. Eve, Circuit Judge.

Early in the morning on January 23, 2022, Javares Hudson walked into the Carle BroMenn Medical Center seeking emergency treatment for a gunshot wound. While an officer investigating the shooting stood outside Hudson's hospital room, medical staff discovered Hudson was concealing "something plastic" in his mouth. Medical staff spent nearly twenty minutes admonishing Hudson to spit out the item before he finally complied, revealing a device used to convert a firearm into a fully automatic weapon. Hudson was subsequently indicted and moved to suppress the device, arguing that the medical staff acted as government agents in conducting a warrantless search. The district court denied the motion. Hudson pleaded guilty but reserved the right to appeal the denial of the motion to suppress. We now affirm.

I. Background

A. Factual History

A shooting took place outside a bar in Bloomington, Illinois in the early morning of January 23, 2022. Members of the Bloomington Police Department responding to the shooting reported that a vehicle left the scene with a shooting victim in the passenger seat. Bloomington Police Officer Benjamin Smith pursued the vehicle. Smith's body-worn camera recorded the ensuing events.

Smith arrived at the parking lot of the Carle BroMenn Medical Center and observed Javares Hudson exit the front passenger seat of the vehicle. In response to Smith's directive to put his hands up, Hudson repeatedly announced that he had been shot in his buttocks. Smith briefly frisked Hudson and then escorted him into the emergency room.

Medical staff immediately brought Hudson to a treatment room. Smith followed them, asking questions about the incident as medical staff began assessing Hudson's wound. As more staff entered the room, Smith took a few steps away from Hudson. After Smith informed a doctor that Hudson was not in custody, the doctor asked Smith to leave, stating, "I just don't want PD around." Smith responded that he was "not going to let [Hudson] out of his sight until we know who's who in this scenario." After a short pause, he added, "I won't interfere. I will stay out of your way completely, sir. This is your show, I will work around you." The doctor walked away and began assisting Hudson without further comment.

About a minute later Smith left the room, standing quietly in the hallway directly outside of the room's open door. When the doctor exited Hudson's room about six minutes later, Smith asked, "Can we avoid washing his hands for the time being so that we can do a gunshot residue kit?" The doctor stated that he would not wash Hudson's hands because "that is not part of what [he] routinely do[es] for folks." Smith stated that he would wait to conduct the residue kit until it was "convenient" for the doctor, and the doctor returned to Hudson's room.

Officer Brandon Finke then arrived and joined Smith in the hallway. Shortly thereafter, the officers overheard medical staff stating that Hudson had something in his mouth. Numerous staff members directed Hudson to spit out the item, but Hudson refused.

Overhearing the commotion, Smith asked a nearby nurse if Hudson had something in his mouth, and the nurse confirmed that he had "something plastic" in his mouth. Smith then stepped inside the examination room, announcing: "They're trying not to kill you, okay? Just spit it out, okay? I'm not trying to charge you with drugs. Just spit it out." Medical staff did not acknowledge Smith's statement and continued admonishing Hudson to spit out the item. Presuming that Hudson was concealing drugs in his mouth, the doctor warned him that the drugs could get him "real sick" and that they could also prevent or obstruct treatment if he needed to be intubated. Smith then piped up again, remarking, "They aren't going to treat ya, dude." In response, the doctor immediately walked towards Smith shaking his hands and stating, "Please don't, I don't want to . . . ." The doctor then closed the curtain, blocking Smith's view of Hudson and the treatment room.

Smith returned to the hallway with Finke as medical staff continued their unsuccessful efforts to persuade Hudson to spit out the item. One medical staff member told Hudson that his throat could be occluded by the object if a breathing tube became necessary. Another stated, "They're not going to let you leave. . . . The cops are here and they're not gonna let you out of here without that out of your mouth."

Approximately ten minutes after first discovering the item in Hudson's mouth, the exasperated doctor again approached Smith:

Doctor: He's got something in his mouth that he's not getting out of his mouth, and I don't want it to end up swallowed because it's evidence, he's going to end up sick.

Smith: Absolutely. Absolutely. We're not trying to charge him with anything.

Doctor: No, no, no. I told him everything on him, in him, is part of a crime scene, which, 'cause he was shot with a weapon. And he's not cooperating at this point. So, if you have ways to convince him, I feel like I don't know if he's in custody or not, or who's to say he's not in custody currently?

Smith: He's detained, yeah.

Doctor: Oh, he's detained. Okay.

Smith: He's not free to leave.

Doctor: Great.

The doctor then returned to Hudson's room. A few minutes later, medical staffs' voices became more forceful. Their commands grew into a chorus: "Spit it out, those drugs are going to go in you!," "Stop chewing on it," and "Nobody cares about a little drugs, spit it out before you get yourself hurt." After the chorus faded without success, the doctor again implored Hudson to spit out the item, noting that Hudson was detained.

Finally, after nearly twenty minutes of coaxing, admonishing, and commanding, Hudson spit out the object. The object was not drugs, but rather a device used to convert a Glock firearm into an automatic weapon.

When the doctor exited Hudson's room once more, Smith asked if he could speak with Hudson and conduct the gunshot residue kit. The doctor stated that he wanted to conduct x-rays of Hudson first because it was the "medically right thing to do." Smith again stated, "No problem, sir, we'll work around you."

While Hudson was x-rayed, a staff member asked Smith whether Hudson would be charged for possessing the Glock component. Smith responded, "You guys have acted as an agent for us, so I don't know that I can charge him with it." Smith explained that police officers cannot ask private actors to do things that they cannot do themselves, but then noted, "This is a little bit different, because you guys have every right to ask him to do that." Surprised by Smith's comments, a staff member responded, "We just really thought it was drugs, so we wanted him to spit it out."

B. Procedural History

Under federal law, the Glock component that Hudson had in his mouth constitutes a "machinegun" because it is used to convert a Glock firearm into a fully automatic weapon. Hudson was therefore indicted on February 15, 2022, on one count of possessing a machinegun in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(o), 924(a)(2).

Hudson moved to suppress the Glock component, arguing that medical staff acted as government agents when they directed him to spit it out, thereby conducting a warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment. After a hearing, the district court held that medical staff did not act as government agents. The court found that medical staff acted with the purpose of providing medical treatment to Hudson and that Smith neither induced nor encouraged medical staff to act. The court alternatively held that even if medical staff had acted as government agents, the emergency-aid exception to the warrant requirement applied. The court therefore found that suppression was not warranted and denied Hudson's motion.

On September 8, 2022, Hudson entered a conditional guilty plea to the count charged in the indictment, reserving his right to appeal the denial of the motion to suppress. The district court accepted Hudson's plea and sentenced him to 33 months of imprisonment. The court entered judgment on January 13, 2023, and Hudson timely appealed.

II. Discussion

Hudson's only argument on appeal is that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress the Glock component. The thrust of his argument is that medical staff acted as government agents when they ordered him to spit out the component, and thus their actions amounted to a warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

A. Standard of Review

We review a district court's decision on a motion to suppress under a mixed standard of review. United States v. Gholston, 1 F.4th 492, 496 (7th Cir. 2021). We review the district court's legal conclusions and conclusions on mixed questions of law and fact de novo. United States v. Bebris, 4 F.4th 551, 560 (7th Cir. 2021). The district court's factual findings are reviewed for clear error. Id. "A factual finding is clearly erroneous only if, after considering all the evidence, we cannot avoid or ignore a 'definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made.' " United States v. Edgeworth, 889 F.3d 350, 353 (7th Cir. 2018) (quoting United States v. Jackson, 598 F.3d 340, 344 (7th Cir. 2010)).

B. The Fourth Amendment

The Fourth Amendment guarantees "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." U.S....