Opinion ID: 25539
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: traffic stops under the fourth amendment

Text: The Fourth Amendment protects individuals from unreasonable search and seizure. Traffic stops are considered seizures within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 653 (1979); Jones, 234 F.3d at 239. Nevertheless, traffic stops are considered more similar to investigative detentions than formal arrests. See Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 439 (1984). Therefore, we analyze the legality of traffic stops for Fourth Amendment purposes under the standard articulated in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968). This standard is a two-tiered reasonable suspicion inquiry: 1) whether the officer's action was justified at its inception, and 2) whether the search or seizure was 5 reasonably related in scope to the circumstances that justified the stop in the first place. Terry, 392 U.S. at 19-20; Jones, 234 F.3d at 240; United States v. Dortch, 199 F.3d 193, 198 (5th Cir. 1999); United States v. Shabazz, 993 F.2d 431, 435 (5th Cir. 1993); United States v. Kelley, 981 F.2d 1464, 1467 (5th Cir. 1993). In addition, the investigative methods employed should be the least intrusive means reasonably available to verify or dispel the officer's suspicion in a short period of time. Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 500 (1983). However, once an officer's suspicions have been verified or dispelled, the detention must end unless there is additional articulable, reasonable suspicion. “At that point, continuation of the detention is no longer supported by the facts that justified its initiation.” Shabazz, 933 F.2d at 436. IV. APPLICATION OF THE TERRY STOP TWO-TIERED INQUIRY Valadez does not dispute the legality of the initial stop. Rather, he argues that the traffic stop was unlawfully extended beyond the point when the officer was aware that no traffic violation had occurred; and therefore violates the second prong of the Terry inquiry. Trooper Slubar stopped Valadez for the purpose of investigating whether the registration sticker on Valadez's vehicle was valid and to determine whether the window tinting was legal. 6 The facts of the case clearly indicate that Slubar realized that the registration sticker was valid when he made initial contact with Valadez. However, Slubar was still uncertain as to the legality of the window tinting. Thus, the only remaining purpose of the investigative stop was to determine whether the window tinting was illegal. The government provides no evidence of any articulable, reasonable suspicion or probable cause that would have authorized Slubar to continue to detain Valadez once Slubar had determined that the window tinting was legal. The Fifth Circuit cases cited by the government in support of its proposition that Slubar was allowed to continue the stop pending the results of the computer checks can be distinguished from the case at hand. See Dortch, 199 F.3d at 198; Shabazz, 933 F.2d at 438. In those cases, the officers that requested the computer checks had articulable, reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing that justified the continued detention of the drivers pending the results of the computer checks. See Dortch, 199 F.3d at 195-96 (observing driver “traveling too close to a tractor-trailer” in a vehicle “rented to a third party” and not being “listed as an authorized driver”); Shabazz, 933 F.2d at 438 (observing driver and passenger “exceeding the speed limit” and giving “conflicting answers concerning their recent whereabouts”). In the instant case, however, there is simply no evidence to 7 support a claim of reasonable suspicion beyond that which led to the initial stop. Further detention was not lawful after the point at which the purposes of the stop was resolved -- that is, when Officer Slubar determined that Valadez had a proper inspection sticker and proper window tinting. There was then no further reason to detain Valadez, and all that followed thereafter contravened Valadez’s Fourth Amendment rights. Therefore, because the relevant period of lawful detention at issue expired, all evidence that followed, including Valadez’s responses to the questions, his guns, and his criminal record should be suppressed.