DC Superior Court Judge Michael Ryan decided to wait until he had legal confirmation before suppressing nearly all evidence in a nonfatal shooting case on Nov. 21.
Anthony Goncalves, 53, is charged with assault with intent to kill while armed against a minor, aggravated assault knowingly while armed against a minor, two counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior conviction. The charges stem from his alleged involvement in a non-fatal shooting on Nov. 29, 2023 on the 3900 block of Minnesota Avenue, NE. A 14-year-old boy sustained nine gunshot wounds.
Goncalves appeared via Webex during the hearing.
Defense attorney James Brockway argued that all evidence should be suppressed due to an August DC Court of Appeals ruling.
In United States v. Wells, judges ruled that GPS monitoring does not have a “good faith exception,” meaning that it can be excluded as evidence when obtained in a manner that violated the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizures. In Wells, the decision was based on the fact that the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) is a law enforcement agency, and thus does not have authority to impose GPS monitoring without authorization from a judge.
According to court documents, Goncalves was on parole at the time of the incident. A defense motion to suppress evidence says the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) identified Goncalves as a suspect because of GPS monitoring that was imposed by CSOSA without judicial authorization.
The prosecution in Goncalves’ case agreed that based on this ruling, the “vast majority” of evidence should be suppressed. This would lead to the case no longer being prosecuted.
Judge Ryan said he did not know if he could rule on this case yet because he had not seen a mandate from Wells that would make it law.
“If indeed Wells is the law right now, then I would just rule on this case now,” he said.
Brockway argued that it does not matter if there is a mandate. Judge Ryan disagreed and gave parties time to figure out if he can rule on this case based on Wells.
Parties are set to reconvene on Dec. 8.
