U.S. v. Edwards

In prosecution on Hobbs Act robbery, drug and firearms charges, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress evidence obtained through GPS tracking device placed on defendant’s vehicle pursuant to search warrant. Record did not support defendant’s argument that officer’s affidavit violated Franks and lacked facts that would establish probable cause, where: (1) defendant conceded that, absent Franks issue, affidavit contained sufficient facts to establish probable cause; (2) defendant failed to identify false or misleading statements in affidavit; and (3) officer’s understatement of defendant’s criminal history actually favored defendant. Also, Dist. Ct. did not err in failing to suppress witness’s photo identification of defendant, even though photo array only contained one photo of defendant, where totality of circumstances including fact that witness had only recently been forced by defendant to participate in robbery with defendant, demonstrated reliability of identification. Too, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying motion to suppress gun found during second entry of defendant’s vehicle, where record showed that, prior to second entry, defendant had abandoned his car during his high speed chase that resulted in defendant fleeing his vehicle on foot.. Fact that government did not raise abandonment argument in Dist. Ct. did not require different result. Also, Dist. Ct. did not abuse its discretion in dismissing juror, after said juror raised unsuccessful claim that one government witness had been coaching another government witness during said witness’s testimony, where Dist. Ct.. provided detailed findings to support its belief that juror harbored bias, and that juror’s continued service on jury risked tainting of trial and jury deliberations.