U.S. v. Miller

In prosecution on charge of felon in possession of firearm charge, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress seizure of firearm from his vehicle that was obtained via search warrant, even though defendant argued that said seizure arose out of unlawful activation of defendant’s key fob by officer in order to identify his car. Ct of Appeals declined to rule on question as to whether officer’s use of key fob to identify defendant’s car constituted “search” for purposes of Fourth Amendment and held that evidence seized from defendant’s vehicle was admissible under independent-source doctrine, where: (1) government obtained said evidence via independent legal source such as search warrant; (2) key fob evidence connecting defendant to his vehicle in no way affected judge who signed warrant; (3) facts contained in warrant application easily supplied probable cause to search defendant’s vehicle, where vehicle contained evidence of crime, including existence of bullet holes and blood in and around vehicle, defendant lying nearby with gunshot wound, and gun on passenger seat was visible through window, but partially obscured by hat. Moreover, officer’s decision to obtain warrant was not prompted by information gained from activation of key fob. As such, vehicle would have been searched regardless of identity of owner.