Opinion ID: 222695
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the Court Considered Irrelevant Factors

Text: First, the government argues the court placed great weight on the five-and-a-half-hour delay between the time the officers became aware of the Quinteros's check-in at the hotel and the time the officers commenced the knock-and-talk at 10:30 p.m. The government contends the delay was irrelevant and no evidence established the officers intentionally delayed their investigation to confront the Quinteros at night. We conclude the court properly considered the time of the search in determining whether Michelle's consent was voluntary. First, our case law suggests the factors enumerated under the totality of the circumstances inquiry are non-exhaustive. See, e.g., United States v. Griffin, 922 F.2d 1343, 1349 (8th Cir.1990) (noting the totality of the circumstances analysis for a custody determination is decidedly non-exhaustive); see also United States v. Romero, 743 F.Supp.2d 1281, 1303 (D.N.M. 2010) (The Supreme Court and the Tenth Circuit have developed a non-exhaustive list of factors that courts should consider when trying to determine whether a defendant's consent was voluntarily given.). Accordingly, it was not improper for the court to consider the fact the Quinteros were rousted out of bed at 10:30 p.m. by a number of officers and security personnel, as well as the officers' unexplained delay in executing the knock-and-talk. Moreover, regardless of whether the officers intentionally delayed their investigation to effectuate a nighttime search, our precedent clearly recognizes the time of the day during which a search takes place is relevant in the analysis. See United States v. Barnum, 564 F.3d 964, 971 (8th Cir.2009) (Barnum was situated behind his rental vehicle on the side of the road in broad daylight when he gave the consent, and he was not in police custody.); United States v. Spotted Elk, 548 F.3d 641, 655 (8th Cir.2008) (considering the fact the knock-and-talk at a motel room occurred during mid-day in analyzing whether the officers' conduct was coercive); United States v. Smith, 260 F.3d 922, 925 (8th Cir.2001) (noting the search took place during daylight in a public place, which weighed in favor of the government in the voluntariness determination). The government bears the burden of demonstrating voluntariness, by which it must show that a reasonable person would have believed that the subject of a search gave consent that was the product of an essentially free and unconstrained choice, and that the subject comprehended the choice that he or she was making. United States v. Sanders, 424 F.3d 768, 773 (8th Cir.2005) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). As part of determining whether Michelle's consent was free and unconstrained, the court was tasked with examining the environment in which the consent took place. See United States v. Lattimore, 87 F.3d 647, 650 (4th Cir.1996) (In viewing the totality of the circumstances, it is appropriate to consider . . . the conditions under which the consent to search was given (such as . . . the duration, location, and time of the encounter).). Thus, the fact the officers inexplicably delayed their investigation, culminating in a nighttime knock-and-talk designed to consummate in a full-scale search, was relevant to the court's determination. In particular, the officers' rousting of the Quinteros from bed at night helped create a more coercive atmosphere, and thus the court did not err in considering this fact in its analysis.