Commonwealth v. Haynes (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-030-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 11‑P‑1947 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. ISHMAL HAYNES. No. 11‑P‑1947. February 21, 2013. Firearms. Constitutional Law, Search and seizure. Search and Seizure, Motor vehicle, Protective sweep. Evidence, Firearm. Practice, Criminal, Motion to suppress. The defendant is charged with carrying a firearm (subsequent offense), unlawful possession of ammunition, unlawful possession of a loaded firearm, and possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number. After the allowance of the defendant’s motion to suppress, the Commonwealth brought this interlocutory appeal. We reverse. Facts. The defendant’s arrest and discovery of the gun and ammunition in his rental car occurred on November 8, 2009, a Sunday night, shortly after 9:30 P.M. While patrolling in what they knew to be a high crime area of the Dorchester section of Boston,[1] State Trooper Walter Foley and Boston police Officers Anthony Serra and Daniel Griffin stopped the defendant after he had committed several traffic violations. When Trooper Foley asked the defendant for his license and registration, the defendant “reached to his glove box. He opened it and shut it quickly without reaching inside. The defendant did not look into the glove box, although his head was facing that way. The defendant did not retrieve anything from the glove box. “The defendant leaned quickly with his right hand toward the floor. He sat up and put his right hand under his thigh. Trooper Foley could not see what, if anything, the defendant had in his right hand. Officer Serra saw that the defendant had taken a tissue from the floor and had put it under his thigh.” Based on those gestures and “the frequency of violent crimes in the area, Trooper Foley and Officer Serra became concerned that the defendant might be getting or concealing a weapon in the car.” The defendant was therefore ordered out of his car and Trooper Foley searched the vehicle’s interior. During the search, Trooper Foley noticed that the plastic panel around the radio on the front console was slightly ajar in the bottom right area of the radio, and that the panel was not seated properly against the main part of the console. Based on his experience and training that voids behind vehicle panels are often used to hide guns or illegal drugs, Trooper Foley put his fingers […]