Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-05-02442/USCOURTS-ca8-05-02442-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Pedro Piedra
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

1

The Honorable Mark W. Bennett, Chief Judge of the United States District

Court for the Northern District of Iowa, adopting the Report and Recommendation of

the Honorable Paul A. Zoss, United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District

of Iowa.

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 05-2442

___________

United States of America, *

*

Plaintiff - Appellee, *

* Appeal from the United States

v. * District Court for the

* Northern District of Iowa.

Pedro Piedra, *

* [UNPUBLISHED]

Defendant - Appellant. *

___________

Submitted: December 12, 2005

Filed: March 13, 2006

___________

Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, WOLLMAN and RILEY, Circuit Judges.

___________

LOKEN, Chief Judge.

Acting at the request of Tri-State Drug Task Force Officer Shawn Jensen,

Police officer Chris Treadway stopped a Ford Bronco with Iowa license plates in

South Sioux City, Nebraska. The driver, Pedro Piedra, was arrested for driving

without a license. A search of the vehicle incident to the arrest uncovered 113.3

grams of methamphetamine. After the district court1

 denied Piedra’s motion to

Appellate Case: 05-2442 Page: 1 Date Filed: 03/13/2006 Entry ID: 2019904
-2-

suppress the methamphetamine, he entered a conditional plea of guilty to possession

with intent to distribute fifty or more grams of methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of

a public playground. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(b)(1)(B)(viii), 860(a). Piedra appeals his

conviction, arguing that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress

because the police lacked reasonable suspicion to stop the Bronco and therefore

Piedra’s arrest and the search incident to that arrest violated the Fourth Amendment.

Reviewing the district court’s ultimate conclusion de novo, we agree that the

controlled drug purchase in progress on the evening Piedra’s vehicle was stopped,

together with Officer Jensen observing Piedra enter and leave a nearby residence

where a controlled drug purchase was made eleven days earlier, gave the officers

reasonable suspicion to make an investigative stop of Piedra’s vehicle. See United

States v. Bustos-Torres, 396 F.3d 935, 942-43 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 125 S. Ct. 2557

(2005); United States v. Jacobsen, 391 F.3d 904, 905 (8th Cir. 2004). Accordingly,

we affirm for the reasons stated in the district court’s thorough opinions. See 8th Cir.

R. 47B.

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Appellate Case: 05-2442 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/13/2006 Entry ID: 2019904