Quoth the Raven: Bounty Hunters Evermore
United States v. Poe, ___ F.3d ___, 2009 WL 514069 (10th Cir. 2009)
(1)Although Defendant had standing and an expectation of privacy in the home where he was a social guest, even though he did not stay overnight, bounty hunters were not state actors for 4th Amendment purposes when they acted without assistance of law enforcement in conducting a search in pursuit of Defendant, a bail jumper. The government did not know of or acquiesce in the bounty hunters’ entry and search of the home, and the fact that it regulates the bail industry does not establish knowledge. Also, bounty hunters were furthering their own commercial ends, not fulfilling a law enforcement purpose.
(2) Sufficient evidence that Defendant constructively possessed firearm in jointly occupied home–his statement that the gun was his was sufficiently corroborated. He said how he acquired it, and it was found next to drugs he admitted using. Sufficient evidence Defendant intended to distribute drugs based on quantity and baggies. Sufficient evidence of firearm in furtherance of drug offense based on all of the above.
(3) No plain error in sentence of ten years supervised release. It was within the statutory range for his conviction, and Court declined to engage in a determination of whether the guideline calculation was wrong.
(1)Although Defendant had standing and an expectation of privacy in the home where he was a social guest, even though he did not stay overnight, bounty hunters were not state actors for 4th Amendment purposes when they acted without assistance of law enforcement in conducting a search in pursuit of Defendant, a bail jumper. The government did not know of or acquiesce in the bounty hunters’ entry and search of the home, and the fact that it regulates the bail industry does not establish knowledge. Also, bounty hunters were furthering their own commercial ends, not fulfilling a law enforcement purpose.
(2) Sufficient evidence that Defendant constructively possessed firearm in jointly occupied home–his statement that the gun was his was sufficiently corroborated. He said how he acquired it, and it was found next to drugs he admitted using. Sufficient evidence Defendant intended to distribute drugs based on quantity and baggies. Sufficient evidence of firearm in furtherance of drug offense based on all of the above.
(3) No plain error in sentence of ten years supervised release. It was within the statutory range for his conviction, and Court declined to engage in a determination of whether the guideline calculation was wrong.
posted by Anonymous at 10:17 AM
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