United States v. Lara-Mejia

482 F.Supp.3d 281

UNITED STATES of America,

v.Johan M. LARA-MEJIA and Joel Mejia-Bisono, Defendants

Criminal No. 3:18-CR-18

United States District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania.

Filed August 28, 2020

Michelle Olshefski, US Attorney's Office, Scranton, PA, for United States of America.

Gino A. Bartolai, Jr., Pittston, PA, for Defendant Johan M. Lara-Mejia.

Elliot A. Smith, Federal Public Defender's Office, Scranton, PA, for Defendant Joel Mejia-Bisono.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Robert D. Mariani, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Four motions are pending before the Court in the above-captioned matter: Defendant Joel Mejia-Bisono's Motion to Suppress Evidence Obtained in Violation of the United States Constitution (Doc. 56) and Motion to Supplement Motion to Suppress Evidence Obtained in Violation of the United States Constitution (Doc. 59) and Defendant Johan Lara-Mejia's Motion to Dismiss Count 5 – 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (Doc. 69) and Motion to Suppress Evidence (Doc. 70). Defendants’ motions to suppress are the main focus of this Memorandum Opinion. With the suppression motions, Defendants request that the Court suppress all evidence seized during the warrantless search of September 10, 2017, the subsequent search conducted pursuant to a search warrant on the same day, and tainted fruits of such evidence. (Doc. 56 at 3; Doc. 70 at 3.) As a result of evidence obtained during the searches at issue, Defendants were charged in a five-count Indictment on January 23, 2018. (Doc. 1.) The Indictment charges both Defendants with Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substances in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, three counts of Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of Drug Trafficking Crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). (Doc. 1.) Upon consideration of the motions, related documents, and evidence presented at the Suppression Hearing held on December 17, 2019, the Court will grant the Motion to Supplement Motion to Suppress Evidence Obtained in Violation of the United States Constitution (Doc. 59), deem withdrawn the Motion to Dismiss Count 5 – 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (Doc. 69), and deny the Motion to Suppress Evidence Obtained in Violation of the United States Constitution (Doc. 56) and Motion to Suppress Evidence (Doc. 70)

II. BACKGROUND

On September 10, 2017, Pennsylvania State Police ("PSP") officers were dispatched to the Ramada Inn in Hazle Township, Pennsylvania, in response to a complaint from the hotel clerk of suspected drug activity. (Doc. 66 at 3.) Upon arrival at approximately 2:47 a.m., the clerk told the officers that an anonymous tip had been received about suspected drug activity in Room 212. (Id. ) At approximately 3:10 a.m., the officers knocked on the door of Room 212. (Id. ) The Ramada is a two-story structure. (Id. at 3 n.2.) Entrance doors to the hotel rooms open to the outside and each room has at least one large double window with curtains. (Id. )

The parties’ recitations and testimony concerning what happened next differs somewhat.¹

A. Government

In the Brief of the United States in Opposition to Joel Mejia-Bisono's Motion for Suppression of Evidence (Doc. 66), the Government provided the following summary of events which transpired after they knocked on the door of Room 212.²

[T]he occupants inside the room opened the curtains and two males, later identified [sic] Joel Mejia-Bisono and codefendant Johan Lara-Mejia, could be seen by officers. The males, yelling through the door, inquired who was there. PSP officers identified themselves and asked the males to step outside to speak with them.

The males opened the door only wide enough to squeeze their bodies out into the hallway of the upstairs balcony and left the door slightly ajar.... As some initial inquiry about the report of drug activity began, officers immediately noticed that both males appeared shaky and nervous. Both males were observed to have blood shot eyes and Mejia-Bisono was immediately observed to have a white powdery substance on his pant legs, consistent with narcotic packaging and consistent with the anonymous caller's report. The males became increasingly nervous as the conversation with the officers ensued. Suddenly, for no apparent reason and in a manner seemingly fake to officers, Mejia-Bisono stumbled forward and pulled the door closed behind him and immediately stated that now they were locked out of the room.

(Doc. 66 at 3-4.) The Government states that when the door was locked,

Trooper Williams stated that would not be a problem because the hotel manager could easily let the defendants back into the room. At that point, Mejia-Bisono's codefendant, Lara-Mejia, walked by himself down to the manager's office. Shortly thereafter, both Mejia-Bisono and one of the PSP officers followed to assist in finding the manager. Meanwhile, Trooper Williams remained outside Room 212. However, from his lawful position, Trooper Williams was able to see through an opening in the curtains and observed what he believed to be piles of packaging material and other paraphernalia consistent with packaging of illegal narcotics, and consistent with having observed a powdery substance on Mejia-Bisono pant legs. Trooper Williams was not in a position to manipulate the curtains. Rather, the curtains were positioned from inside of the room, which remained locked at that time.

After a few minutes, Trooper Stemrich returned to the area outside of Room 212 with the two defendants and the hotel manager who had the key to open the room. As the manager stepped forward to unlock the door to allow the defendants access, Mejia-Bisono suddenly stepped in front of the door aggressively reaching his hands toward the neck of the manager and telling her not to open the door. Trooper Williams reacted by directing the Mejia-Bisono to step away from the manager and not to touch her. As the manager continued toward the act of unlocking the door (because Mejia-Bisono just moments prior lamented that they were now locked out of the room), both defendants took flight and ran down the outside hallway toward the exit stairway down to the parking lot.

(Doc. 66 at 5-6.) The Government states that both Troopers Williams and Stemrich pursued Defendants across the parking lot and into the nearby woods. (Doc. 66 at 6.) Mejia-Bisono was ahead of Lara-Mejia, and was able to get away,³ but "Trooper Williams was able to apprehend Lara-Mejia with the assistance of Trooper Stemrich." (Id. ) According to the Government, "Lara-Mejia was walked back to outside Room 212 where he was searched incident to arrest. Five and a half bundles of suspected heroin were seized from his person." (Doc. 66 at 6-7.) Thereafter, the hotel manager unlocked Room 212 and the Government states that PSP officers then "quickly swept the room for the safety of everyone involved and secured the scene in order to obtain a search warrant. In plain view were piles of packaging materials including boxes of glassine packets and several piles of unknown white powders. Officers immediately secured the room and sought a search warrant." (Id. at 7.)

On September 10, 2017, at approximately 9:55 a.m., a search warrant was executed on Room 212 by members of the Clandestine Laboratory Response Team ("CLERT"). (Doc. 66 at 7 n.3.) Items seized from the room include the following:

1. A Meloir Brand .25 caliber pistol, serial # 4399 (silver);

2. A wallet containing MEJIA-BISONO's social security card;

3. Several documents belonging to Lara-Mejia and a set of keys;

4. A digital scale and plastic bags with unknown white powder;

5. A Hamilton Beach electric grinder with residue;

6. Plastic bags with various types of packaging materials with reside [sic];

7. Numerous (thousands) of yellow glassine baggies;

8. Two plastic Ziploc bags with one half filled with rice and multiple bundles of suspected heroin.⁴

(Doc. 66 at 8.)

B. Defendants

Defendant Lara-Mejia states that the discovery received by him makes no mention of the details regarding "squeezing" their bodies out of the room and the alleged sudden activities of Defendant Mejia-Bisono. (Doc. 75 at 2 n.2.) In his general recitation of events, Defendant Mejia-Bisono states that Defendant Lara-Mejia

inched aside the curtain, peeked at the troopers through the window, and rejoined the curtains, the troopers ordered the occupants of the hotel room to open the door. Initially, Mr. Mejia-Bisono cracked the door open to face the officers alone; Mr. Lara-Mejia remained behind. When the troopers communicated that all occupants of the room were required to exit, Mr. Lara-Mejia came into the hallway with Mr. Mejia-Bisono. Once in the hallway, the defendants allowed the door to close behind them, and the door locked automatically. Several times, the troopers ordered the defendants to open the door. The defendants, several times, communicated that they did not wish to open the door, and in any event, explained the defendants, they had locked the key inside. The troopers ordered the defendants to obtain a spare key from the Ramada's front desk person, and Mr. Lara-Mejia left to do so. After some time, the desk manager came to the room with a spare key. Mr. Mejia-Bisono again protested against opening the door. The troopers ordered Mr. Mejia-Bisono to allow the desk manager to proceed, which she did. Once they recognized that the troopers would not relent in the face of protest, the defendants fled. After the troopers returned from the chase, they entered the hotel room and observed contraband in plain view.

Later that morning, a Magistrate issued a search warrant for the hotel room upon the affidavit of trooper Mark F. Baron. (Decl. Ex. A). The Baron Affidavit includes information from the warrantless seizure of defendants and search of the hotel room earlier that morning. It also sets forth several knowingly false statements, including that the defendants were "nervous" and "fidgety" and "had blood shot eyes"; that

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