Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-90-02202/USCOURTS-ca10-90-02202-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Dan Martinez
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

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FILED 

Unitsd States Court of Appcaln Tenth Circuit 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Plaintiff-Appellee, 

vs. 

DAN MARTINEZ, 

Defendant-Appellant. 

TENTH CIRCUIT AU~2 G 1991 

ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

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No. 90-2202 

(D.C. No. CR-89-24) 

(D.N.M.) 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

Before LOGAN, MOORE and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges.** 

On January 3, 1989, defendant-appellant Dan Martinez and a 

codefendant were stopped at the permanent border patrol checkpoint 

on Interstate 25 north of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The 

investigating border patrol officer noticed that the defendants 

were acting suspiciously and exhibiting extreme nervousness. He 

* This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall 

not be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, 

except for purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of 

the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 

36.3. 

** After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel 

has determined unanimously that oral argument would not assist the 

determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a); 10th 

Cir. R. 34.1.9. The case therefore is ordered submitted without 

oral argument. 

Appellate Case: 90-2202 Document: 010110133304 Date Filed: 08/26/1991 Page: 1 
then requested to search the trunk of defendant's automobile. 

After consent, the officer found approximately sixty-five pounds 

of marijuana in the trunk. Defendant later was convicted of 

possession with intent to distribute less than fifty kilograms of 

marijuana in violation of 18 u.s.c. S 84l(a)(l) & (b)(l) and 18 

u.s.c. S 2 (aiding and abetting). Prior to trial, the district 

court denied defendant's motion for suppression which was based on 

the argument that the marijuana was seized in violation of 

defendant's fourth amendment rights. Defendant appeals, 

challenging the denial of his motion to suppress.

1 

Defendant contends that, once the border patrol agent 

determined that he and his codefendant were United States 

citizens, the agent had no legal basis for further detention and 

questioning and that the consensual search therefore was illegal. 

Our cases dealing with permanent border patrol check points 

clearly establish that border patrol agents have broad authority 

briefly to detain and question motorists regarding citizenship 

matters even when lacking reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. See 

United States v. Sanders, No. 90-2216, slip op. (10th Cir. June 

24, 1991) [1991 WL 108594]; United States v. Rubio-Rivera, 917 

F.2d 1271 (10th Cir. 1990); United States v. Benitez, 899 F.2d 995 

(10th Cir. 1990); United States v. Johnson, 895 F.2d 693 (10th 

Cir. 1990); United States v. Espinosa, 782 F.2d 888 (10th Cir. 

1986). Furthermore, the same line of authority indicates that 

1 This is an appeal after an earlier remand. See United States 

v. Martinez, Nos. 89-2104 & 89-2105, unpub. order and judgment 

(10th Cir. Mar. 22, 1990). 

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Appellate Case: 90-2202 Document: 010110133304 Date Filed: 08/26/1991 Page: 2 
border patrol officers are not required blindly to ignore 

suspicious circumstances regardless of whether the circumstances 

are indicative of an immigration offense. See,~, 

Rubio-Rivera, 917 F.2d at 1276; Johnson, 895 F.2d at 696; 

Espinosa, 782 F.2d at 891. The facts of this case are 

indistinguishable from the facts in Benitez, in which we held that 

the defendant's nervous conduct at a permanent border patrol 

checkpoint justified prolonged detention and a request to search 

the defendant's automobile. See 899 F.2d at 998. This case is 

controlled by the above line of authority. 

AFFIRMED. 

Entered for the Court 

Bobby R. Baldock 

Circuit Judge 

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Appellate Case: 90-2202 Document: 010110133304 Date Filed: 08/26/1991 Page: 3