Source: http://voiceforthedefenseonline.com/story/traveling-known-drug-corridor-who-knew
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 10:23:39+00:00

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Assume that you are a hard-working drug courier just trying to make an illegal living. You have been hired to haul a load of merchandise from Harlingen to Dallas, or El Paso to Longview. You have taken all possible precautions to prevent being stopped by law enforcement and having your cargo seized: 1) You are not using a rental car; 2) you made sure the turn indicators, as well as all of the other lights on the vehicle, work correctly; 3) there are no fast food wrappers strewn about the inside of your car; 4) you removed all air fresheners and religious symbols from your mirror; 5) you have practiced your deep-breathing exercises so that if you get stopped, you won’t appear too nervous; and 6) you are wearing a high-neck shirt so the throbbing vein in your neck cannot be seen.
Despite all your preparations, you are pulled over for [fill in the traffic violation de jour]. While the officer approaches the car, you silently chant your mantra and pull your collar up. Although you are courteous, make eye contact (but not too much), have all your documents in order, and answer all the officer’s questions (while making sure your answers don’t seem too pat), the officer insists on searching your vehicle. Of course, you refuse, so the dreaded drug dog is called in to sniff around. The dog allegedly alerts by sitting or squatting or wagging its tail or panting or peeing on the tire. Your merchandise is ultimately seized, and you are arrested.
After reviewing the incident report, you discover one of the factors the officer relied upon to prolong the stop was the fact that you were “traveling a known drug corridor.” Your first reaction might understandably be, “What the heck is a ‘known drug corridor?’” This article will attempt to answer that question.
What Is a Drug Corridor?
That’s a good question. Absent a more trustworthy source, a workable definition can be located on Wikipedia. There, a drug corridor is defined as “the name given to various paths in the U.S., generally being coterminal with major highways and interstates, that are major highways for the flow of illicit drugs into, out of, and across the U.S.”1 The concept appears in case law under various monikers, including “drug corridor,” “drug thoroughfare,” and “drug avenue.” Regardless of which name is used, it is frequently cited by law enforcement as a factor to support reasonable suspicion for prolonging a traffic stop.
In case law and other sources, the origin of the phrase is not readily explained.2 It simply appeared in one case, and as time went by, it gradually started popping up more and more frequently. The Drug Enforcement Administration is the most likely source, where one of the earliest references to the term was located on the DEA website in the section containing a history of the DEA, 1980 to 1985.3 As explained in that history, “Operation Pipeline” was created in response to an increase of drug arrests following traffic stops.
Therefore, we probably have the DEA, and its ongoing training, to thank for the phrase and its increased use.
The defendant argued on appeal that his motion to suppress should have been granted because the stop was unreasonably prolonged, relying on United States v. Santiago, 310 F.3d 336 (5th Cir. 2002) and United States v. Jones, 234 F.3d 234 (5th Cir. 2000).18 The Fifth Circuit found both cases distinguishable, in part because “the highway on which [Santiago] traveled was not deemed a major drug corridor” and “Jones was not traveling on a known drug corridor.”19 The highway in Santiago was Interstate 20 in Bossier Parish, Louisiana.20 In Jones, the exact location was not disclosed—the decision merely stated that the car was stopped “just inside the city limits of Amarillo, Texas,” and the defendants were traveling from California to Memphis, Tennessee.21 The appeals court in Powell implicitly found that I-45, near Centerville, was a drug corridor, but offered no hint as to how or when the highway qualified as such.
The winner for first-mention-in-Texas decisions appears to be Adams v. State.22 On July 30, 1998, a deputy sheriff stopped a red Ford Taurus for driving on the shoulder of Highway 59. The case was tried in Polk County, Texas, so although not specifically mentioned, it is assumed that the relevant portion of Highway 59 was in Polk County. The deputy encountered three individuals in the car, and he questioned each one of them. Several factors led the deputy to “believe that a crime was being committed: The Taurus was a rental car, the driver was not named on the car rental agreement, the occupants were returning to Lufkin after a ‘turnaround trip’ to Houston, and the occupants were nervous, evasive, and gave conflicting stories regarding their recent travels.”23 In a footnote, the court explained that the deputy “described a ‘turnaround trip’ as a quick trip, usually overnight, to a major drug-supplying city to purchase narcotics and take them to another city to sell them. He characterized Houston as a major drug source and Highway 59 as a major drug thoroughfare.” Id. at n. 3. Again, there was no explanation as to how or when Highway 59 achieved the “major drug thoroughfare” status.
Does Traveling on a Known Drug Corridor Really Mean Anything?
In the beginning, courts seemed to take testimony regarding traveling on a drug corridor as meaningful, especially when combined with other factors. For instance, in Williams v. State,24 a 2003 decision, the defendant was stopped for speeding on I-30 in Rockwall County (northeast of Dallas). The trooper testified that he knew I-30 “to be a major drug trafficking thoroughfare.” The trooper also noticed that the defendant was “extremely nervous, spoke softly in a monotone voice, and would not make eye contact.”25 In addition, the defendant was unable to produce valid proof of insurance. When the trooper asked whether there were any guns, knives, hand grenades, dead bodies, or drugs in the vehicle, the defendant said “no” and then laughed, which made the officer believe something illegal might be in the vehicle.26 The officer then asked if there were any drugs in the car, which the defendant answered, “No, sir.” After receiving con­sent to search the car, the trooper found three pounds of mari­juana in the trunk.
In affirming the trial court’s denial of the defendant’s motion to suppress, the Dallas court cited the following evidence in support of reasonable suspicion: nervous behavior, lack of eye contact, previous arrest for unlawfully carrying a weapon, trooper’s knowledge “that Interstate 30 was a favorite thoroughfare among drug traffickers, and, in his experience, appellant’s laughter in response to the question about whether he possessed anything illegal was generally indicative of someone found to have contraband in their possession.”27 The evidence regarding I-30 being a “favorite thoroughfare among drug traffickers” appeared to be taken at face value and without question.
The fact that a person is driving a vehicle on an interstate highway is virtually meaningless in determining a connection to illegal substances. We realize that narcotics and cash derived from drug transactions are transported by vehicles traveling on the interstate highway or other major highways. But to conclude from that general premise that a particular vehicle driving on that highway is likely to be involved in possessing or selling drugs or has monies derived from it, is simply a fallacy in reasoning and logic. It adds nothing to the quest to determine the issues involved.
The Fifth Circuit, in United States v. Madrigal (a non-forfeiture case), had the opportunity to consider whether someone taking a particular route was material to the finding of reasonable suspicion.37 On October 31, 2012, an officer observed the defendant and his wife following another vehicle too closely on Interstate 10, between San Antonio and Houston.38 The defendant explained that he was driving from Reynosa, Mexico, and was traveling to Houston to look at a truck.39 The officer ques­tioned the defendant about why he choose to travel on Interstate 10 rather than Highway 59, and the defendant replied that his friend in Houston told him I-10 was shorter. After checking the defendant’s license, the officer continued to question the defendant but never returned the license and registration during this exchange.
Regarding the route taken, the court explained that the defendant’s use of Interstate 10 gave rise to little suspicion. “Interstate 10 like all highways between Mexico and Houston may be used as a drug corridor, but it also is a major thoroughfare for legitimate purposes. The vast majority of traffic on Interstate 10 are law-abiding citizens who are traveling to work, home, or for other legitimate purposes.” Further, the defendant’s choice to avoid Highway 59 also was not inherently suspicious.
Again, What Is a Drug Corridor?
Question the officer regarding how he came to the conclusion a particular route was a drug corridor. Did someone tell him that? If so, who? What part of his training covered drug corridors? Is there an authoritative list that designates certain routes to be drug corridors?
Be aware of those “damned if you do; damned if you don’t” scenarios and point them out to the court.
While I don’t advocate taking up the drug courier trade, if you do, I suggest supplementing your list of places and things to avoid. First, avoid the routes highlighted on the above map All these roads have been cited in Texas and Fifth Circuit cases as drug corridors! Avoid the interstates. Avoid the main highways. It might take you longer, but enjoy the scenery and ambience of small towns as you travel the backroads of Texas. Don’t forget your turtleneck to hide that tell-all, pulsating artery in your neck. And lastly, avoid responding to a police officer’s attempt at humor, as it just might be probable cause for an arrest.
1. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_corridor (last visited 3/15/18).
2. Case law research for this article was limited primarily to Texas and Fifth Circuit cases.
4. Id. at p. 54.
6. See State v. Escobar, 388 S.E.2d 534, 537 (Ga. App. 1989) (Pope, J. concurring specially).
12. United States v. $32,310.00 in U.S. Currency, 1988 WL 169271, at *3 (D. N.J. 1988).
15. Id. at *7 (emphasis added).
16. 137 Fed. Appx. 701 (5th Cir. 2005).
19. Id. at 708 (emphasis added).
20. Santiago, 310 F.3d at 340.
21. Jones, 234 F.3d at 239–40.
22. 2001 WL 246018 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2001, no pet.).
24. 2003 WL 22020783 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2003, no pet.).
26. There is no explanation as to why laughing at the officer’s question re­garding “hand grenades” or “dead bodies” would lead the officer to suspect crim­inal activity. He probably would have been suspicious if the defendant had not laughed at his attempt at humor.
28. $130,510.00 in U.S. Lawful Currency v. State, 266 S.W.3d 169 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2008, pet. denied), and $43,774.00 U.S. Currency v. State, 266 S.W.3d 178 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2008, pet. denied).
29. $130,510.00 v. State, 266 S.W.3d at 172.
30. Id. at n. 5 (emphasis in original).
32. $43,774.00 v. State, 266 S.W.3d at 180.
37. United States v. Madrigal, 626 Fed. Appx. 448 (5th Cir. 2015).
42. Id. at n. 17.
47. “Appellant was traveling on [Highway] 287, which in Trooper Harden’s training and experience is a drug corridor.” See Smith v. State, 2017 WL 1289354, at *5 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2017, pet. ref’d). See also United States v. Pack, 612 F.3d 341, 361 (5th Cir.), modified 622 F.3d 383 (5th Cir. 2010) (Officer testified regarding driver’s extreme nervousness, conflicting stories, “and the fact that the two were traveling along a drug trafficking corridor” caused officer to suspect that they were engaged in criminal drug activity. Officer’s “suspicion is entitled to significant weight, because he had been a law enforcement officer for 17 years.”).
48. 266 S.W.3d at 187–88 and 626 Fed. Appx. at 451.

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