IN THE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA )
)
v. ) Judge
) No.
JOHN DOE )
DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO SUPPRESS AND SUPPORTING MEMORANDUM
Defendant, JOHN DOE, by the Federal Defender Program and its attorney, NAME, respectfully requests that the weapons found during the search of 0000 W. 102nd Street be suppressed. In support of this motion, Doe states as follows:
On June 27, 1991, Officer John Spraggins of the Chicago Police Department filed an affidavit in the Circuit Court of Cook County requesting a search warrant to search the premises of the residence of John Doe, 0000 W. 102nd Street in Chicago. A warrant was issued in state court based upon the officer's affidavit. At about 9:45 p.m. Spraggins went to 0000 West 102nd Street to execute the warrant.
According to an interview conducted by ATF Agent John Taylor on October 23, 1991, Spraggins said "he and his team arrived, they knocked at Doe's residence of 1150 West 102nd Street, Chicago, Illinois. Officer Spraggins said he believes that Doe's son who was there visiting, opened the front door allowing them to gain entry." (See Attachment A, Report of Interview, at 1). The officers then conducted the search and located the two weapons.
This is in direct conflict with the testimony given before the Grand Jury by a second government witness, John Doe, Jr. In that testimony Doe, Jr. was describing for members of the Grand Jury the search of his father's residence on June 27, 1991. During his testimony the prosecutor asked Doe, Jr. to describe to the members of the Grand Jury what happened that evening. Doe, Jr., answered:
A. Okay. My father had left, and they really just -- when the doors opened, they really just barged in, and they pointed a gun at me and told me not to move.
Q. The police officers said that to you?
A. Yes.
Q. At that time, did they know who you were?
A. No.
Q. What did they do then?
A. They started then really to -- they told me, "Don't move," so I sat there with my hands up. And they told me not to move, and they started tearing up the house.
Q. I'm sorry.
A. They started tearing up the house, looking for the guns.
(See Attachment B Grand Jury Testimony of John Doe Jr., at 15) [emphasis added].
John Doe, Jr. then told the Grand Jury that the officers verbally harassed him by calling him "a dumb M.F., and a lot of other things." Id., at 22. He also told the Grand Jury that the police had told him that if his father did not return home they were going to place him (John Doe, Jr.) under arrest. Id., at 22.
This testimony in front of the Grand Jury clearly indicates that the officers in this case did not knock to announce their presence. According to John Doe, Jr., "they just barged in." (1) Furthermore, this is not the only time that Doe, Jr. gave this account of the entry by the police officers and their subsequent conduct. On July 5, 1991, Investigator Patrick Querfurth of the Office of Professional Standards, spoke to John Doe, Jr. about what happened. According to Querfurth's report Doe told him that:
four casually dressed officers both white and black entered that home and were pointing their guns at [his] head .... The officers were using profanity toward him and were asking him if he knew his father was selling drugs, how could he live in such a place .... The officers called him a bitch, a dumbass, and a motherfucker .... Mr. Doe, Jr. admitted to urinating on himself as he felt threatened and afraid of the four officers.
Attachment C. (2)
A search executed pursuant to a search warrant may not contravene federal constitutional or statutory standards. See United States v. Singer, 943 F.2d 758 (7th Cir. 1991). It is well-settled that when police officers are executing a search warrant they must knock to announce their presence. The federal statute governing the execution of a search warrant, 18 U.S.C. § 3109 provides that:
The officer may break open any outer or inner door or window of a house ... to execute a search warrant, if, after notice of his authority and purpose, he is refused admittance or when necessary to liberate himself or a person aiding him in the execution of a warrant.
It is clear from the evidence offered to the Grand Jury by the only person present in the house at the time of the search that the officers involved in this search did not knock to announce their presence. Therefore, the evidence seized should be suppressed, or, in the alternative, a hearing should be conducted on the matter.
Respectfully submitted,
FEDERAL DEFENDER PROGRAM
Terence F. MacCarthy
Executive Director
By:
Attorney for John Doe
FEDERAL DEFENDER PROGRAM
55 E. Monroe Street
Suite 2800
Chicago, Illinois 60603
312-621-8300
1. After reading the Grand Jury transcript, counsel for defendant attempted to contact Doe, Jr., to discuss in more detail the officers' entrance. Mr. Doe, Jr., refused to speak to counsel.
2. On July 2, 1991, Mrs. Marilyn Monroe, the mother of John Doe, Jr., told Investigator Querfurth basically the same thing. See Attachment D.