United States v. Johnny Casel Nora

The issue raised by this appeal is whether the police violated Johnny Nora’s Fourth Amendment rights when they searched his home. The search yielded narcotics and firearms, which formed the basis for the federal charges brought against him. After the district court denied Nora’s motion to suppress the evidence seized from his home, Nora entered a conditional guilty plea pending the outcome of this appeal.

Nora contends that, although the officers obtained a search warrant, all of the evidence discovered during the search must be suppressed because the warrant was invalid. The warrant was invalid, Nora argues, because it was based on information acquired as a result of his unlawful arrest. And his arrest was unlawful, Nora urges, because the officers either lacked probable cause to arrest him or, alternatively, arrested him in violation of Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573 , 100 S.Ct. 1371 , 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980).

I

The events relevant here occurred on a single night in January 2008. Two uniformed police officers were patrolling Nora’s neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles in an unmarked car. As they drove down Nora’s street, the officers saw three men they didn’t…