Case 1:05-cr-00386-ESH Document 605

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ANTOINE JONES, Defendant. : : : : : : :

Case No. 05-CR-386(1) (ESH) Trial: 5/7/12

DEFENDANTS MOTION TO SUPPRESS FRUITS OF ILLEGAL SEARCH AND SEIZURE AND MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT THEREOF DEFENDANT Antoine Jones (Jones), by and through undersigned counsel, and pursuant to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and applicable case law, hereby moves this Honorable Court to suppress at trial of this case all fruits of the governments unlawful use of a global positioning system (GPS) on Mr. Jones vehicle. FACTS Mr. Jones has been charged in a Superseding Indictment with Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute Five Kilograms or More of Cocaine and Fifty Grams or More of Cocaine Base. The government alleges that Mr. Jones was part of a narcotics conspiracy from at least 2003 until October 24, 2005, which spanned from the District of Columbia, Maryland, Texas, North Carolina and elsewhere. In particular, the government alleges that Jones was the primary supplier of cocaine to members of the organization in the District of Columbia and Maryland. On September 16, 2005, the government obtained an Order authorizing it to install a GPS tracking device on the Jeep Grand Cherokee registered to Mr. Joness wife. The Order authorized installation of the device in the District of Columbia within 10 days of the

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Order. On the 11th day, and not in the District of Columbia but in Maryland, FBI agents installed a GPS tracking device on the undercarriage of the Jeep while it was parked in a public parking lot. Over the next 28 days, the Government used the device to track the vehicle's movements, and by means of signals from multiple satellites, the device established the vehicles location within 50 to 100 feet, and communicated that location by cellular phone to a Government computer. It relayed more than 2,000 pages of data over the four-week period. Mr. Jones moved to suppress the data obtained from the GPS device. This Court denied the motion and allowed the Government to introduce the GPS- derived data, which the government argued connected Jones to the stash house at 9508 Potomac Drive, Ft. Washington, MD, that contained $850,000 in cash, 97 kilograms of cocaine, and 1 kilogram of cocaine base. Also at that location were three Mexicans, including Roel Bremea, who testified against Mr. Jones at both trials pursuant to a cooperation agreement. A jury convicted Mr. Jones at the second trial of his case and the Court sentenced him to life in prison. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed the conviction because admission of the evidence obtained by the warrantless use of the GPS device violated the Fourth Amendment. See United States v. Maynard, 615 F.3d 544 (2010). In January of this year, the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals. See United States v. Jones, 132 S.Ct. 945 (2012). ARGUMENT The Fourth Amendment provides that The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be

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seized. U.S. Const. amend. IV. The purpose of the exclusionary rule, established in Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383 (1914), was to safeguard Fourth Amendment rights. See United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. 338, 347-48 (1974). The exclusionary rule bars the introduction at trial not only of evidence seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment, but also of evidence obtained as an indirect result of the illegal seizure the fruit of the poisoned tree. See Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States, 251 U.S. 385 (1920); Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471 (1963). In this case the government illegally obtained evidence from the warrantless use of a GPS device affixed to Mr. Jones vehicle. The GPS data directly allowed the government to find the location of 9508 Potomac Drive,1 where drugs, money and witnesses were located. Because the seizure of Mr. Jones vehicle through the installation of a GPS device was unlawful, any evidence directly or indirectly derived from that illegal seizure must be suppressed as the fruit of the poisonous tree. See Wong Sun, 371 U.S. 471 (1963).

The government has asserted to counsel that it employed other means to locate the stash house and produced what it contends is information supportive of that assertion. However, counsel has not had the opportunity to have that information analyzed by experts and, therefore, cannot address it in this motion.

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WHEREFORE, for the foregoing reasons and any others that may become apparent to the Court, Mr. Jones respectfully requests that this Motion be GRANTED. Dated: Washington, DC March 29, 2012 Respectfully submitted, BALAREZO LAW /s/ By: ________________________________________ A. Eduardo Balarezo, Esq. D.C. Bar # 462659 400 Fifth Street, NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20001 (202) 639-0999 Counsel for Antoine Jones

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY that on this 29th day of March 2012, I caused a true and correct copy of the foregoing Defendants Motion to Suppress Fruits of Illegal Search and Seizure and Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support Thereof to be delivered to the parties in this matter via Electronic Case Filing (ECF). /s/ ______________________________ A. Eduardo Balarezo, Esq.