United States v. Rose

613 Fed. Appx. 125 (3d Cir. 2015)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Detective Wagner was investigating a recent burglary in which a .40 caliber handgun had been stolen. J.M., a juvenile, told Detective Wagner that another juvenile, A.P., claimed to have sold the firearm to an older black man for $300. J.M. was not present and never saw A.P. possess the firearm. J.M. said that the sale took place at 340 Cypress Avenue, Apartment 6. J.M. knew the location because he had accompanied A.P. to Apartment 6 after the sale when, for unexplained reasons, A.P. attempted to retrieve the firearm. A.P. admitted handling the firearm but did not admit to possessing it for any length of time. A.P. also denied selling the gun to anyone. Detective Wagner decided to visit Apartment 6 with three other officers. Detective Wagner did not obtain a search warrant. Instead, he hoped to meet with the occupant, explain the information that he had gathered, and receive consent to search the apartment. They knocked, and Grayson opened the door. Grayson had resided there for a little over a year, but he spent most nights at his fiancée's apartment. D was a casual acquaintance of Grayson's, but he was a good friend of Grayson's brother. Grayson had known D for approximately six years, the two seldom spent time together. D had never been an overnight guest at Apartment 6. Detective Wagner asked for permission to search the apartment for the firearm. Grayson did not consent and told the officers that they would need to secure a search warrant if they wished to search his apartment. Detective Wagner responded that he would seek a search warrant, but in the interest of officer safety and to prevent the destruction or removal of evidence, the officers needed to secure the apartment. After receiving that explanation, Grayson stepped out of the way, and the officers entered Apartment 6. Officer Kabler, who was behind the apartment building, heard a window being opened. He looked up and saw D leaning out of a window with a revolver in his hand. Officer Kabler radioed to the other officers and then ordered D to drop the gun, but Rose did not comply and instead unsuccessfully attempted to throw the gun onto the roof. It landed on the ground instead. D proclaimed that the gun was his, nobody else's, and nobody else was involved. The officers arrested D and seized the .38 caliber revolver he had tried to hide, along with money and crack cocaine concealed on his person. The police searched Apartment 6 after they got a warrant but did not locate the stolen .40 caliber firearm for which they had come. A grand jury returned an indictment for the drugs and gun in his possession and D moved to suppress the evidence in that the physical evidence were products of a warrantless search of Grayson's apartment, which was made without probable cause or exigent circumstances. D claimed that he was an overnight guest and therefore had standing to challenge the legality of the search. D pled guilty, but he reserved the right to appeal the denial of his suppression motion