United States v. Corey Lee Fay

410 F.3d 589 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Corey Lee FAY, Defendant-Appellant. No. 04-10401. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted April 13, 2005. Filed June 3, 2005. Jason F. Carr, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Las Vegas, NV, for the defendant-appellant. Crane Pomerantz, Assistant United States Attorney, Las Vegas, NV, for the plaintiff-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada; Howard D. McKibben, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CR-03-00453-HDM. Before NOONAN, THOMPSON, and RYMER, Circuit Judges. NOONAN, Circuit Judge. 1 Corey Lee Fay appeals the district court's denial of his motion to suppress and his consequent judgment of conviction as a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1). We hold that there was no violation of the Fourth Amendment in the discovery of Fay's gun. We affirm the judgment of conviction. FACTS 2 Mandy Ortiz was the tenant of Apartment 1099 at 2200 N. Torrey Pines, Las Vegas, Nevada. Fay lived with Ortiz and her four-year-old daughter at this address. Ortiz knew that Fay had been a gang member and that he kept a gun in the…

Corey Lee Fay appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress and his consequent judgment of conviction as a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1). We hold that there was no violation of the Fourth Amendment in the discovery of Fay’s gun. We affirm the judgment of conviction.

FACTS

Mandy Ortiz was the tenant of Apartment 1099 at 2200 N. Torrey Pines, Las Vegas, Nevada. Fay lived with Ortiz and her four-year-old daughter at this address. Ortiz knew that Fay had been a gang member and that he kept a gun in the apartment. On October 8, 2003, Ortiz and Fay quarreled. Fay angrily threatened Ortiz. Ortiz tried to leave to go to her job at Sav-On. Fay refused to let her leave without him and got in her car and rode with her to the store, where the quarrel continued. Officer Stout responded to a call reporting domestic violence. Ortiz told Stout that she was afraid of Fay, that there was a warrant for his arrest, and that he had a gun at her apartment. After checking on the arrest warrant, Stout arrested Fay and then, with Fay in his car, followed Ortiz back to her apartment at Ortiz’s request.

Ortiz asked Fay to accompany her into the…

concurring.

I write separately to state that, while I join the opinion I’ve written, it seems to me that we are engaging in the drawing of fine distinctions that do not need to be drawn. The simple facts here are that a householder wanted illegal property out of her home. Fay’s expectations have no bearing on her right to get it out.

A guest who brings a bunch of banknotes into the house, tells his host that they are the proceeds of a bank robbery, and leaves them in a bag in the guest room has no legitimate objection to his host turning him in and turning over the bag. A guest who brings to his host’s home drug paraphernalia and tells his host that he’s hiding it in the closet has no reason to believe that his host will not telephone the police and tell them to pick the paraphernalia up. The felon who shows his girlfriend that he is keeping a firearm in the laundry room has no privacy claim that she can’t rid her house of a gun by asking *591 the police to remove it. On what possible basis can a man committing a crime and admitting that he is doing the criminal deed claim that his confidant should preserve his secret?

A person cannot disable his host from bringing criminal…