Opinion ID: 715690
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Smith, Sanchez, and Benjamin Shepherd

Text: 17 The defendants argue that the traffic stops were a pretext to search for evidence. On appeal, they do not contend that the searches were illegal in any manner; they contend only that each stop itself was improper. This circuit employs an objective, two-part test for pretextual stops: we ask whether there was probable cause to make the particular stop and whether the stopping officer was acting with authority to make the stop. United States v. Willis, 61 F.3d 526, 530 (7th Cir.1995), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Oct. 23, 1995) (No. 95-6488); United States v. Trigg, 878 F.2d 1037, 1041 (7th Cir.1989), aff'd. on appeal after remand, 925 F.2d 1064, 1065 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 962, 112 S.Ct. 428, 116 L.Ed.2d 448 (1991). In the instant case, the defendants do not challenge whether the stopping officers were acting with authority to make the stop and the district court found that each of the defendants' vehicles were stopped for a legitimate traffic violation. Therefore, we affirm the district court's denial of the motions to suppress. 18 The stops of the Aerostar and the Econoline are fairly straightforward. The Econoline was straddling lanes and the driver, Benjamin Shepherd, failed to signal prior to making a turn. Thus, Shepherd's driving gave Netemeyer ample cause to believe that Illinois traffic laws were being violated. The Aerostar had a cracked windshield and crossed over the white fog line on the shoulder. The Illinois law prohibits operating a vehicle when the windshield is in such defective condition or repair as to materially impair the driver's view to the front, side, or rear. 625 ILCS 5/12-503(e). Smith argues that the crack in the windshield would not strike a prudent person as materially impairing a driver's view. Smith, however, fails to comprehend that the issue here is not whether he would have been convicted of a violation in a traffic court. The issue is whether there was probable cause that a traffic law had been violated. See Willis, 61 F.3d at 530; United States v. Quinones-Sandoval, 943 F.2d 771, 774 (7th Cir.1991). The district court reviewed the evidence and found that there was probable cause for each stop and that the stopping officers acted with authority to make the stops. We agree. The stops were not pretextual. Trigg, 878 F.2d at 1041. 19 The stop of the Cougar is a closer call. Sergeant Delmore stopped the Cougar based on the presence of an air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror, and gave the driver a warning for having a material obstruction between the driver and the windshield, a violation of 625 ILCS 5/12-503(c). In United States v. Rivera, 906 F.2d 319 (7th Cir.1990), we held that a stop for a violation of this same Illinois statute was not pretextual. Rivera, however, also involved a defendant who was driving erratically. In the instant case, the sole reason for the stop was the presence of an air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror. This reason is, nevertheless, sufficient because Fourth Amendment analysis is objective. See United States v. McCarty, 862 F.2d 143, 148 (7th Cir.1988). Sergeant Delmore had probable cause to stop the Cougar, so the stop did not violate Sanchez's Fourth Amendment Rights. Sergeant Delmore's subjective reasons for stopping the Cougar are irrelevant as long as he had probable cause for the stop. Id. 20 Sanchez disagrees, and argues that the stop was pretextual even when applying an objective test. Sanchez posits that, even if a reasonable officer could have made a stop in those circumstances, no reasonable officer would have made a stop in such circumstances. Sanchez supports his position by noting that Sergeant Delmore testified that he had on other occasions observed handicapped parking tags two to three times larger than this air freshener hanging from moving vehicle, but had never issued a ticket for such conduct. In addition, the government's expert in the area of narcotics interdiction and narcotics investigations, Special Agent Kevin Stallard of the Illinois State Police, testified that, in his opinion, the use of the hanging air freshener was not a violation of the law and that he would not use that as the justification for a traffic stop. 21 We are aware that the Supreme Court recently granted certiorari on a similar issue. See Whren v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 690, 133 L.Ed.2d 595 (1996) (Question presented: Was pretextual traffic stop undertaken by officers who were prohibited by police department regulations from making traffic stops objectively unreasonable under Fourth Amendment when no reasonable officer in those circumstances would have made such stop (test used by Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits), or was such stop permissible as long as it could have been made because of traffic violation (test used by D.C., Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits)?); see also, United States v. Cannon, 29 F.3d 472, 474-76 (9th Cir.1994) (discussing the differences between the would have test and the could have test). The Supreme Court's decision would not affect the outcome of this case, in any event. First, unlike the defendants in Whren, the defendants in this case do not allege that the stopping officers were acting without authority to make the traffic stops. Second, the only evidence that Sanchez can point to in support of an argument that no reasonable officer would have made the stop was first adduced at trial, rather than in the suppression hearing. We review a district court's denial of a motion to suppress based solely on what the district court knew at the time of the ruling. United States v. Fryer, 974 F.2d 813, 819 (7th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 941, 113 S.Ct. 2418, 124 L.Ed.2d 641 (1993). The record contains no evidence that Sanchez (or Benjamin Shepherd or Smith) renewed at trial their motions to suppress evidence. When the defendant fails to renew at trial the motion to suppress, an appellate court should not rely on evidence first produced at trial to reverse a pre-trial denial of a motion to suppress. United States v. Longmire, 761 F.2d 411, 420-21 (7th Cir.1985); United States v. Hicks, 978 F.2d 722, 725 (D.C.Cir.1992).