United States of America, State of California, Intervenor v. Raphyal Crawford, AKA Aarmyl Crawford

Opinion by Judge GRABER; Concurrence by Judge O’SCANNLAIN; Concurrence by Judge TROTT; Concurrence by Judge KLEINFELD; Dissent by Judge W. FLETCHER

Defendant Raphyal Crawford appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress a statement that he made to law enforcement officers, arguing that the statement was taken in violation of his Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and in violation of his entitlement to Miranda warnings under the Fifth Amendment. Defendant also appeals the district court’s imposition of a two-level sentence enhancement for physical restraint of a victim during the commission of the offense. We affirm Defendant’s convictions, but vacate his sentence and remand for resentencing.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Sometime in 1998, FBI Special Agent David Bowdich received information from an unnamed source that a person known as “Ralphy Rabbit” had participated in the February 10, 1998, armed robbery of a Bank of America branch on Ulrich Street in San Diego. Bowdich’s subsequent investigation led him to believe that “Ralphy *1051 Rabbit” was an alias used by Defendant. Bowdich also learned that Defendant was currently…

concurring:

I join Judge Trott’s concurrence in its entirety, and because I believe there was no Fourth Amendment violation in this case, I join Judge Graber’s majority opinion except as to Part A.1, which assumes the contrary.

concurring, with whom O’SCANNLAIN, KLEINFELD, TALLMAN, and CLIFTON, Circuit Judges, join:

Although I concur in Judge Graber’s excellent opinion to the extent that it (1) concludes that Crawford’s incriminating statements were admissible against him at his trial, and (2) affirms his conviction, I approach this case from a different perspective. I conclude that because Crawford was a California parolee and, as such, subject to random searches as well as seizures and detention, he was not the victim of any Fourth Amendment constitutional violation in the first place.

I

During the summer of 1993, Richard Allen Davis, a violent career criminal serving a sixteen-year sentence for kidnapping, was paroled from California State Prison. Three months later, he abducted twelve-year-old Polly Klaas from her bedroom, sexually assaulted her, and eventually strangled her to death. Richard Allen Davis’s vicious murder of Polly Klaas became the catalyst for Proposition 184, the “fastest qualifying initiative in California history.” Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11, 15 , 123 S.Ct. 1179 , 155 L.Ed.2d 108 (2003). Proposition 184, in conjunction with Assembly Bill 971, established a life sentence…

concurring:

The majority holds that, assuming without deciding that the search of Crawford’s home and his detention there were illegal, the statements made by Crawford were nevertheless admissible. I agree.

Judge Trott would hold that the search of Crawford’s home and his detention there were constitutionally permissible, so his statements were admissible without regard to the analysis in the majority opinion. I agree.

In my view, Judge Trott’s approach is preferable, because it usefully clarifies the constitutional relationship of states and parolees, and because the Supreme Court in New York v. Harris said, “[Ajttenuation analysis is only appropriate where, as a threshold matter, courts determine that ‘the challenged evidence is in some sense the product of illegal governmental activity.’ ” 1 There was no illegal governmental activity here, and that is the end of it. Nevertheless, it is highly desirable that we issue a majority opinion, not merely a plurality opinion, so I have concurred in the majority opinion as well as Judge Trott’s regarding the suppression of Crawford’s statements.

Regarding sentencing, I concur in the result reached by the majority, vacating and…

dissenting, with whom PREGERSON and TASHIMA, Circuit Judges, join:

During a suspicionless search of his residence and an involuntary detention during that search, Raphyal Crawford agreed to go to the FBI office to talk. FBI Agent David Bowdich conducted the search because he hoped that he could induce Crawford to confess to a bank robbery that had taken place about two and a half years earlier.. Agent Bowdich testified that he and his fellow officers had no expectation they would find any evidence of the “old bank robbery” during the search. Rather, he testified that he planned the search and accompanying detention as a “tool” to get Crawford to confess. After about an hour and a half at the FBI office, Crawford confessed to participating in the bank robbery.

At the time of the search and detention, Crawford was a California state parolee subject to explicit conditions of parole. None of these conditions, however, authorized a suspicionless search whose sole purpose was to investigate a pre-parole crime. I conclude that, in the absence of an explicit condition of parole, a search of a parolee’s residence to investigate a pre-paróle crime must be justified by at least a…

372 F.3d 1048 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, State of California, Intervenor, v. Raphyal CRAWFORD, aka Aarmyl Crawford, Defendant-Appellant. No. 01-50633. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted En Banc December 8, 2003. Filed June 21, 2004. COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED Michael J. McCabe, San Diego, CA, for the defendant-appellant. Carol C. Lam, U.S. Atty., Sherri Walker Hobson, Asst. U.S. Atty. (on brief), David P. Curnow, Asst. U.S. Atty. (oral argument and petition for rehearing), United States Attorney's Office, San Diego, CA, for the plaintiff-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California; Irma E. Gonzalez, District Judge, Presiding, D.C. No. CR-01-00141-IEG. Before SCHROEDER, Chief Judge, and PREGERSON, KOZINSKI, O'SCANNLAIN, TROTT, KLEINFELD, TASHIMA, GRABER, W. FLETCHER, TALLMAN, and CLIFTON, Circuit Judges. Opinion by Judge GRABER; Concurrence by Judge O'SCANNLAIN; Concurrence by Judge TROTT; Concurrence by Judge KLEINFELD; Dissent by Judge W. FLETCHER GRABER, Circuit Judge: 1 Defendant Raphyal Crawford appeals the district court's denial of his motion to suppress a statement that he…