RICHMOND, Va. -- A federal judge has denied a request to throw out evidence collected when officers searched the home of a man who Richmond police claimed was involved in the plotting of a mass shooting.
Defense attorney Jose Aponte filed the motion last year, alleging that the officers who found guns inside the home of Julio Cesar Alvarado-Dubon never got consent from his client to search the house, and did not obtain a search warrant until four days after the fact.
Aponte argued the July 1, 2022 search was therefore unconstitutional, and the evidence gathered – specifically guns and ammunition that was found – should be suppressed.
But in an opinion filed Wednesday, Judge Hannah Lauck disagreed.
“The totality of circumstances, including Dubon’s actions, his age, and the conditions under which he gave consent, demonstrate that Dubon freely and voluntarily consented to the protective sweep of the residence,” Lauck said. “The record shows that the police had specific and articulable facts to undergird a reasonable suspicion that other dangerous individuals could be in the house.”
Problem Solvers Investigations
Police called him a July 4 mass shooting plotter. He called them liars.
Last July, former RPD Chief Gerald Smith and Mayor Levar Stoney held a news conference to announce that - based on a tip - Dubon and a man named Rolman Alberto Balcarcel Ac had been arrested, accused of plotting an attack that would have taken place on the 4th of July. Smith later identified the target as Dogwood Dell, where the city has a fireworks display.
But neither man has ever faced charges related to a shooting plot.
Both cases ended up moving to federal court, where Dubon is only charged with possession of a firearm by someone in the country illegally.
Balcarcel ended up pleading guilty to a single charge of illegally re-entering the United States.
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