United States v. Jones

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. MELVIN LEE JONES, Defendant.

Case No. 3:17cr71

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA Richmond Division

February 16, 2018

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This matter comes before the Court on Defendant Melvin Jones's Motion to Suppress Statements and Evidence (the "Motion to Suppress"). (ECF No. 14.) In the Motion to Suppress, Jones seeks to suppress both physical evidence and statements arising from an encounter with Richmond Police officers at a residence on August 24, 2016. For the reasons that follow, the Court will deny the Motion to Suppress.

I. Procedural History and Findings of Fact

A. Procedural History

On June 6, 2017, a grand jury indicted Jones on two counts: (1) Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine Base in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1); and, (2) Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). (ECF No. 1.) An arrest warrant issued the next day. (ECF No. 4.) On October 10, 2017, Jones was arrested and released on personal recognizance to a third party custodian. (ECF No. 10.) On November 13, 2017, Jones filed the Motion to Suppress, (ECF No. 14), and the United States responded, (ECF No. 17). On December 7, 2017, the Court held an evidentiary hearing on the Motion to Suppress (the "Hearing"). (ECF No. 19.) The Court then ordered supplemental briefing which the parties timely filed, (ECF Nos. 26, 27), and heard oral argument on January 24, 2018. At oral argument, the Court ordered further supplemental briefing, which the parties ultimately filed timely. (ECF Nos. 29, 32.)

B. Findings of Fact

In May 2016, the Richmond Police Department received an anonymous complaint through the Department's "Gun 250 Program"¹ naming Melvin Jones as a person selling marijuana and crack cocaine out of a residence located at 3008 Berwyn Street (the "Berwyn Street residence"). The complainant claimed that he or she had seen Jones selling narcotics as well as cooking them, that Jones kept cooking utensils in a safe in a closet of the residence, and that he stored drugs throughout the house. The complainant also reported that Jones kept a handgun either on his person, in his dresser, or under his mattress, and that he hid a camera on the porch in order to see who approaches the home.

On the afternoon of August 24, 2016, after confirming that Jones had ties to the Berwyn Street residence, three Richmond Police officers, all in uniform—Officer Jonathan Myers, Officer Jason Pritchard, and Officer Hogan—went to the Berwyn Street residence to investigate the complaint.² Officer Myers was familiar with Jones from prior interactions and "knew his face." (Hr'g Tr. 57.) Officer Pritchard wore a body camera, which was running and recording throughout the entire encounter with Jones.

The three officers approached the front door of the residence, climbing up a short flight of stairs to a covered porch. The front door of the house was made of solid wood and had an external screen door. Officer Pritchard, standing to the left of the door, held the screen door open while Officer Myers, standing directly in front of the doorway, knocked on the solid wood front door.³ Officer Myers did not say anything when he knocked on the door. Within ten seconds, Jones opened the door and stood in the threshold. Officer Myers testified that, upon the door opening, he "immediately smelled marijuana coming from the residence."⁴ (Hr'g Tr. 63.) After opening the door, Jones spoke first, asking Officer Myers, "How you doing, man?" (Body Camera Tr. Clip 7 at 1, ECF No. 21-1.) Officer Myers responded, "Are you good? . . . Are you smoking up in there?" (Id.) Before Jones responded, Officer Myers reached for Jones and grabbed him by the left arm. With Officer Pritchard's assistance, Officer Myers handcuffed Jones's hands behind his back, and sat him on a chair on the porch. At the moment Officer Myers grabbed Jones's arm, Jones was standing on the metal door jamb of the front door, and Officer Myers had one foot on the metal door jamb and the other foot on the porch.

After Officer Myers had detained Jones on the porch, Jones said, "my niece and my nephew are back there," indicating toward the house. (Id.) Officer Myers asked if they were young, and Jones said that they were. Officer Myers then asked Jones two times if any adults were in the house, and Jones responded twice that there were not. Jones called to the twochildren to come to the front door, which they did, and Officer Pritchard directed the children to sit on the porch.⁵

Officer Myers then indicated that he was going to "clear" the house. The following exchange occurred:

OFFICER MYERS: I'm going to take a look. Yo, we've gotta clear it.

MR. JONES: You got a warrant or something?

OFFICER MYERS: It smells like weed.

OFFICER PRITCHARD: We don't need to get a search warrant.

MR. JONES: I don't get a search? Did you get a call or something?

OFFICER MYERS: We have a complaint. A drug complaint.

(Id. at 2.)

Officer Myers then conducted the search, which lasted about two minutes. Officer Myers testified that he cleared the residence

[f]or safety reasons. The second I smelled marijuana based on the complaint leading up to the knock-and-talk, and then the smell of marijuana coming from the house, my intention at that point was to, one, obtain consent from the resident of the house or obtain a search warrant. So if that's what we were going to do, we were going to clear the house and just make sure there was nobody in there just for safety reasons while we waited to obtain the warrant.

(Hr'g Tr. 64.) On cross examination, Officer Myers further testified that he swept the house even after Jones had told him there were no other adults in the home

[b]ecause we're going to be there for a while getting this search warrant. For safety reasons, I'm not taking his word. We have enough to clear the house and make sure nobody else is in there as a threat. . . . Based on the smell coming from the house, the door already being opened by a resident inside, we have enough todetain all occupants inside and make sure that the house is secured before I go and obtain the search warrant.

(Id. at 82.)

During his sweep of the house, Officer Myers did not find any people, but he did see a "very small portion" of a smoldering cigarette on top of a trash can in the kitchen that, "based on [his] training and experience," Officer Myers recognized as marijuana. (Hr'g Tr. 66, 78-79.)

After he completed the sweep, Officer Myers officer came to the door of the house and asked Jones to "step inside." (Body Camera Video Clip 7 at 4:35, ECF No. 21.) Jones then stood up and walked into the house unassisted. Officer Myers followed him inside.

Officer Myers testified that he attempted to get Jones's consent to search the house but that Jones refused to give consent. Even though he did not give consent to search, the parties agree—and the body camera footage shows—that Jones was calm and cooperative during the entirety of his detention. Officer Myers then left to get a warrant.

Detective Awad, dressed in street clothes, arrived at the scene shortly after Officer Myers departed, and entered the house to speak with Jones. At this time, Officer Hogan was the only other officer in the house. About a minute later, Detective Awad left the house and went to his car, which was parked on the street in front of the residence. Approaching the house again, Officer Awad asked Officer Pritchard for a Miranda card. Officer Pritchard handed a card to Detective Awad. Detective Awad then entered the house again. Approximately fifteen seconds later, Officer Hogan walked out of the house. Detective Awad remained in the house with Jones alone for approximately three-and-a-half minutes⁶ while Officer Pritchard and Officer Hoganstood on the porch. During this time, the wooden door to the house was open, but the screen door was closed.

About one minute after Detective Awad entered the house the second time, Officer Hogan, who was standing on the porch, made a hand gesture seemingly at Detective Awad through the screen door. It is difficult to make out from the video, but it appears that Officer Hogan motioned his thumb toward Officer Pritchard, who was standing to the right of the door out of sight of Detective Awad. Officer Hogan then pointed at Detective Awad with his index finger, then put up his fingers and walked away.⁷

While they were on the porch together, Officer Hogan remarked to Officer Pritchard:

[Jones is] being extremely cooperative other than that. Everything he's saying is right there. You know, pretty much owned up to everything. He said, "Can I change my clothes?" I was like, "You don't know if you're going to jail or not." He was like, "I'm going to jail." He knows that there's something in there.

(Body Camera Tr. Clip 7 at 17.)

The United States questioned Detective Awad about his conversation with Jones while the two were alone in the house. When asked if Jones made any statements in response to questioning prior to being read his Miranda rights, Detective Awad stated that, "[a]s far as any questioning, . . . the only questioning that I did was to see if he wanted to cooperate. There wasn't a time where I recall making any specific questions pertaining to the situation until after I introduced the body camera and read Miranda to him." (Hr'g Tr. 88.) Detective Awad testified that once Jones "said that he wanted to talk," Detective Award "went and grabbed Officer Pritchard and Mirandized [Jones]." (Id. at 89.)

When asked on direct examination if Jones made any incriminating statements prior to being read his Miranda warnings, Detective Awad testified:

A: I think the biggest thing for me was that he looked remorseful . . . . He was making statements indicative to the fact that he wanted to cooperate with us to avoid bringing anyone else that lived in that house into the same trouble that he was in. I don't recall him making any statements to me where he was like, yeah, I'm a

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