Opinion ID: 172835
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Duration of the Search

Text: Carbajal-Iriarte next challenges the duration of the search. Whether the search exceeded the duration of the defendant's consent is a question of fact, which this court reviews for clear error. United States v. Rosborough, 366 F.3d 1145, 1150 (10th Cir.2004). There is no absolute rule specifying the permissible duration of a search performed with the defendant's consent. Rather, the court asks what a reasonable person would have understood to be the scope and duration of his consent under the circumstances. Id. Rosborough is instructive. There, the defendant and his cousin were pulled over for speeding and were given a written warning. Id. at 1147. After the warning was issued, the defendant agreed to answer further questions and ultimately consented to a general search of the vehicle, which was confined by neither time nor location. Id. at 1147, 1151. During the search, the officer detected an odor he believed was being used to mask the scent of drugs. Id. at 1147. This prompted the officer to call for a canine unit, which arrived forty-five minutes into the search. Id. Soon after, the drug dog alerted toward the front passenger area. Id. at 1148. At that point, the defendant and his cousin attempted to revoke their consent to the search, but because a canine's positive alert creates general probable cause to search a vehicle, the officers continued their search and ultimately located thirty pounds of cocaine hidden in the trunk. Id. at 1148, 1153. Rosborough sought suppression of the cocaine on the grounds that the portion of the search prior to the canine alert, which lasted just under an hour, exceeded the duration of his consent. This court affirmed the district court's denial of the motion to suppress because Rosborough's general consent was confined by neither time nor location and the officers acted with diligence in conducting the search. Id. at 1151. Likewise, the search here did not exceed the duration of Carbajal-Iriarte's consent. Carbajal-Iriarte characterizes the search as occurring in two different locations over a span of two hours. This description ignores the multiple consents to search given by Carbajal-Iriarte. That Carbajal-Iriarte repeatedly consented to these searches favors the conclusion that the duration of the search was reasonable. See id. at 1151-52. The first search at the truck stop lasted approximately half an hour, after which Carbajal-Iriarte agreed to go with Agent Small and Detective Tate to meet Officer Ramos for a second search. After arriving at Officer Ramos's location along Interstate 40, Carbajal-Iriarte reaffirmed his consent for the search. From the time of Carbajal-Iriarte's last consent, the search lasted just over an hour, only slightly longer than the search at issue in Rosborough. Once Officer Ruiloba arrived with the drug dog, the dog alerted to the presence of methamphetamine within a matter of minutes. A variety of other facts also support the district court's findings. Carbajal-Iriarte's consent contained no limitation on the duration of the search and can only be described as giving the officers general permission to search the vehicle. At no time did Carbajal-Iriarte seek to limit the duration of the search, nor did the officers create the understanding that the search would be brief. It is also noteworthy that Carbajal-Iriarte's last consent was provided after voluntarily traveling to meet another officer for the express purpose of a search, as opposed to the search in Rosborough, which stemmed from a traffic stop. Finally, there is no indication, and Carbajal-Iriarte does not argue, that the officers failed to act with due diligence in conducting the search. In light of all of these circumstances, the district court's finding that the search was of a duration permitted by Carbajal-Iriarte's consent was not clearly erroneous.