Opinion ID: 2696081
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Terry stop becoming an arrest

Text: We first examine whether Massi’s detention under Terry “morphed . . . into a de facto arrest” and, if so, when that arrest occurred. Zavala, 541 F.3d at 579. An arrest occurs when, “in view of all the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave.” United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 554 (1980). As a factual matter, we know that Massi and Sanchez were told by law enforcement officers that they were not free to leave. The issue is solely a legal one. At the end of the officers’ investigation, the following was known: (1) the trip had been laborious – six refueling stops – from Orlando to Las Vegas, then after a 12 hour stop, the return trip began; one of the occupants had just entered the country through Tijuana, Mexico, a known center of drug activity; and the owner of the airplane had a more-than-twenty-year-old conviction for drug trafficking; (2) a canine, Gus, conducted a sniff of the airplane’s exterior at 7:20 p.m., including the luggage, and did not alert; (3) Massi and Sanchez complied with all requests, except each denied consent to search the airplane; (4) when Massi denied consent, he attempted to shut the airplane’s open door; (5) Agent Knight saw a cardboard box behind the rear seat of the airplane, 18 to 24 inches across in size; (6) Sanchez told Agent Knight he had seen Massi 10 Case: 12-51063 Document: 00512719470 Page: 11 Date Filed: 08/01/2014 No. 12-51063 put the box in the airplane; (7) Massi denied knowing about the box; and (8) once told what Sanchez said, Massi admitted to owning the box. No further questioning occurred, because by then Massi had requested an attorney. The final event in this chronology appears to have been the canine sniff at 7:20 p.m. Agent Howard arrived at 7:30 p.m. A fair estimate is that Massi and Sanchez’s encounter with MPD began once they had time to return to their airplane after getting food, and once the officers had time to arrive at the airplane upon being told at 6:00 p.m. to conduct a ramp check. The Homeland Security agents were not informed of the airplane until 6:20 p.m., so their start was later than that of MPD. It would appear that the encounter had been underway for about an hour by the time Agent Howard arrived. We noted above that we review the evidence on a motion to suppress in a manner favorable to the prevailing party, Cardenas, 9 F.3d at 1147, and uphold the ruling “if there is any reasonable view of the evidence to support it.” Michelletti, 13 F.3d at 841 (quotation marked omitted). There are uncertainties in the record regarding the length of time taken by the ramp check, a check which independently supports the initial activity at the airplane. We have also found that there were reasonable suspicions of drug activity supporting some additional inquiry. Therefore, we see no clear factual error or any legal error in the district court’s ruling that at least at the time that Agent Howard arrived, no violation of Massi’s Fourth Amendment rights had occurred. The remaining concern, of course, is that probable cause to arrest was absent as of 7:30 p.m., but Massi continued to be detained. The detention lasted until midnight, four and one-half hours after Agent Howard’s arrival. From 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., Agent Howard collected and analyzed all facts uncovered during the regulatory check and Terry investigation. Between 11 Case: 12-51063 Document: 00512719470 Page: 12 Date Filed: 08/01/2014 No. 12-51063 9:30 p.m. and midnight, Howard went to his office; prepared an affidavit; talked at least with AMOC, the United States Attorney’s office, and a Magistrate Judge; procured a search warrant; and returned to search the airplane’s interior. During all this time, Massi was not free to leave. This delay existed, ultimately, because law enforcement officers sought a warrant and warrants take time. A Terry detention “must be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop, unless further reasonable suspicion, supported by articulable facts, emerges.” Brigham, 382 F.3d at 507. Our caselaw presents numerous examples of automobile searches, and occasionally searches of airplanes, in which the issue is whether immediate, warrantless searches were justified by exigent circumstances. Here, law enforcement officers instead held the airplane and the occupants until evidence could be corroborated, an affidavit prepared, and the search warrant obtained. As a result of the delay that accompanied this process, the initial investigatory stop “morphed from a Terry detention into a de facto arrest” requiring probable cause. Zavala, 541 F.3d at 579. Though the ramp check and Terry-justified investigation were over by 7:30 p.m., Massi had to remain until midnight while a warrant was obtained. Thus, both men were detained well beyond the time for the ramp check and Terry investigation. Generally, absent the brief and minimally intrusive detention such as permitted under Terry, a seizure without probable cause to believe the person is guilty of a crime violates the Fourth Amendment. Dunaway v. New York, 442 U.S. 200, 210 (1970). “[W]e have never held that a police officer may detain a defendant for one hour and thirty minutes until a full-blown drug investigation is completed.” Zavala, 541 F.3d at 580. We conclude that the justification under Terry to hold Massi had ended by 7:30 p.m. when Agent Howard arrived. Thereafter, Massi was under arrest. 12 Case: 12-51063 Document: 00512719470 Page: 13 Date Filed: 08/01/2014 No. 12-51063