Federal Circuits, 9th Cir. (August 26, 1992)
Docket number: 90-30087
Permanent Link:
http://vlex.com/vid/37477953
Id. vLex: VLEX-37477953
Click here to download this article in graphic format (Acrobat Reader)

U.S. Supreme Court - Murray v. United States, 487 U.S. 533 (1988)
U.S. Supreme Court - Nardone v. United States, 308 U.S. 338 (1939)
Before EUGENE A. WRIGHT, BEEZER and LEAVY, Circuit Judges.
MEMORANDUM*Ronald Lester Howard appeals his convictions for conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Howard contends that the district court erred in denying a motion to suppress evidence seized from his house and truck. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1291 and we affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.* After a ten-month investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA"), Ronald Lester Howard was indicted for conspiracy and distribution of methamphetamine. Howard allegedly supplied methamphetamine to an intermediary who, in turn, sold it to a confidential informant.Federal and state law enforcement officers went to Howard's house to secure his arrest. The parties dispute whether the officers identified themselves to Howard's wife and children, who answered the door when the officers arrived. There is no dispute, however, that the officers failed to state the purpose of their visit before entering Howard's residence.After Howard was summoned to the living room and placed under arrest, the officers obtained incriminating evidence. The officers then applied for, and procured, a state search warrant. The affidavit in support of the application for a search warrant included information obtained during the officers' entry.Howard's wife, upon learning that the officers intended to search the residence, asked the officers if she could leave. Unable to locate the keys to Howard's truck, and carrying an infant, she accepted an offer of assistance from one of the officers to help locate the missing keys. Concealed with the keys in a pouch, which the officer found under the truck's front seat, was a vial of methamphetamine.In executing the state search warrant, the officers found marijuana, methamphetamine, large quantities of cash and drug paraphernalia in Howard's residence. Howard was subsequently charged with conspiracy, distribution of methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and the use of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime.Howard moved prior to trial to suppress the evidence found in his house and truck. Howard contended that, in executing the arrest warrant, the officers violated 18 U.S.C. 3109 by failing to announce the purpose of their visit before entering his residence.1Following an evidentiary hearing, a federal magistrate found that the officers had, indeed, violated the "knock and announce" statute. The magistrate refused, however, to suppress the evidence, holding that the evidence in the residence would have been inevitably discovered during the execution of the state search warrant. The magistrate further held that the evidence discovered in the truck was unrelated to the illegal entry of the residence and that Howard's wife had consented to the search. The district court reviewed de novo Howard's motion to suppress and then accepted the magistrate's report and recommendation.2After a jury trial, Howard was convicted of conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of seventy-two months. Howard timely appeals his conviction.IIWe review de novo the district court's grant or denial of a motion to suppress. United States v. Yarbrough, 852 F.2d 1522, 1533 (9th Cir.), cert. denied,