Opinion ID: 76370
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Criminal History Check

Text: 14 The government argues that our opinion in Purcell stands for the proposition that an officer may generally detain a driver to await the results of a criminal history check so long as the detention does not last an unreasonably long time. The circumstances in Purcell, however, are distinguishable from those in this case in a crucial way. In Purcell, we held that the officer could permissibly detain the defendant pending a criminal history check because the officer had made the request for a criminal history check as part of his routine computer check. Id. at 1278. That check was clearly part of the original traffic stop investigation. Here, Edwards did not request a criminal history check as part of his routine computer check. Edwards only requested a license check when he initially stopped Boyce and had received that information when he told Boyce that he would only get a warning citation. Once Edwards had completed writing the warning citation and returned Boyce's license and rental agreement, the traffic violation investigation was complete and, as Edwards admits in his testimony, Boyce was free to go. R2 at 57. 15 Edwards did not request the criminal history check until several minutes after he had written the warning. Therefore, the criminal history check could not be part of the original traffic stop investigation and could not be the basis for prolonging Boyce's detention. Once the traffic stop was at an end, Edwards should have let Boyce go unless he had a reasonable and articulable suspicion of some other criminal wrong doing. 4