United States v. Guy Christopher Brooks

Defendant-Appellant Guy Christopher Brooks, convicted in the district court on three counts of bank robbery, challenges the admission of incriminating evidence that police seized in a search of his hotel room made without a warrant. We consider whether the district court committed reversible error by denying Appellant’s pretrial motion to suppress the evidence where that search was prompted by a “911” emergency phone call to the police from a hotel guest, staying in an adjacent room, who thought that she had heard the sounds of a woman being beaten. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I

On February 2, 2002, Appellant Brooks and Sharon Andrea Bengis (“Bengis”)— who had been living together for almost three weeks in room # 301 of the Extended Stay America hotel in Lake Forest, California — were breaking up their relationship. It is not disputed that they were at least engaged in an argument so loud that it commanded the attention of a neighboring hotel guest. The guest next door in room # 303 called the police and reported hearing what she thought were sounds of a woman being beaten in room # 301. Deputy Sheriff Marcus Perez (“Perez”) arrived on the scene.…