Opinion ID: 165216
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reasonableness of Questioning

Text: 37 Mr. Maddox presents two arguments challenging the voluntariness of his admission to Deputy McCoy that he was armed and carrying methamphetamine. First, he urges that because his initial detention was unconstitutional the subsequent questioning was as well. Because we hold that the initial detention was constitutional, this argument is unpersuasive. 38 Second, Mr. Maddox argues, without citation to legal authority, that because he observed others being patted down he assumed he would be as well, regardless of his responses to Deputy McCoy. Thus, he asserts his responses were involuntary. The Government counters that following a legal detention an officer may ask persons being detained if they are armed even when the officer lacks reasonable suspicion or probable cause. See United States v. Holt, 264 F.3d 1215, 1226 (10th Cir.2001) (en banc) (Ebel, J.) (Given the dangers inherent in all traffic stops, we hold that the government's interest in officer safety outweighs a motorist's interest in not being asked about the presence of loaded weapons.). Mr. Maddox retorts that Holt is inapplicable here as it is limited to the questioning of detained motorists. We need not decide today whether to extend Holt to the non-vehicle context because deputies Medrano and McCoy had a reasonable and articulable suspicion that Mr. Maddox was dangerous. 39 Under Terry, the reasonableness of a search or seizure depends on whether the officer's action was justified at its inception, and whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place. 392 U.S. at 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868. As we discussed above, the initial detention of Mr. Maddox was reasonable on officer safety grounds. Deputy Medrano was assisting in the arrest of a narcotics trafficker at a residence he knew to be dangerous; it was getting dark; Deputy Medrano was outnumbered 5-to-1; and he had observed Mr. Maddox reach under the seat of pick-up truck as it pulled up the driveway. Further, it was unlikely that Mr. Maddox was merely passing by the residence, and his behavior after being asked to remain in the carport—incessant pacing, leaving the carport area, urinating in the carport— reasonably heightened Deputy Medrano's suspicions that Mr. Maddox was dangerous. Given these reasonable and articulable grounds, the officer could have, consistent with Terry, performed a protective patdown of Mr. Maddox. Id. at 27, 30, 88 S.Ct. 1868. Deputy McCoy, however, merely asked a question about firearms, which is less intrusive than a frisk, and is equally justified under these circumstances. 40 Based upon many of these same facts, Deputy McCoy also had a reasonable and articulable suspicion that Mr. Maddox possessed narcotics. See United States v. Soto-Cervantes, 138 F.3d 1319, 1322-23 (10th Cir.1998). We hold, therefore, that Deputy McCoy's questioning of Mr. Maddox was reasonable given the totality of the circumstances.