Opinion ID: 78365
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Bautista-Silva's Motion To Suppress All Statements and Physical Evidence Obtained as a Result of the Stop

Text: Bautista-Silva was charged with knowingly transporting five illegal aliens within the United States for private financial gain. 8 U.S.C. §§ 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii), (a)(1)(B)(i). Bautista-Silva moved to dismiss the indictment or, in the alternative, to suppress all statements and physical evidence obtained as a result of the stop, on the ground that the agents lacked reasonable suspicion to stop his vehicle. The government responded that the agents had reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle based on their experience, specific and articulable facts, and rational inferences drawn from those facts that the vehicle contained illegal aliens. The district court held an evidentiary hearing, at which Agent Cole testified on behalf of the government, and Bautista-Silva presented the testimony of a defense investigator. Agent Cole testified that his decision to stop Bautista-Silva's vehicle was based on several factors that, in his experience, suggested the vehicle contained illegal aliens: (1) the Suburban was the kind of large vehicle often used by smugglers to transport illegal aliens; (2) the driver and all five passengers were Hispanic adult males; (3) the Suburban was registered in California, a known staging area for human smuggling; (4) the Suburban was traveling south on I-95, a route known to be used by smugglers to transport aliens to South Florida; (5) as it passed Agent Cole's parked patrol vehicle, the Suburban appeared to hide behind another vehicle in an attempt to avoid detection; (6) Bautista-Silva drove erratically on a slippery road after passing Agent Cole, when he first accelerated in an apparent attempt to evade the agents and decelerated immediately after Agent Cole caught up in an apparent attempt to let the agents pass; and (7) the passengers of the Suburban appeared nervous, stared straight ahead, and refused to acknowledge Agent Cole's attempt to gain their attention. On cross-examination, Agent Cole testified that he was familiar with the Treasury Enforcement Communications System, a computer database of information about vehicles that cross the border of the United States, but he did not check that system for information about Bautista-Silva's vehicle. Agent Cole acknowledged that several of the factors on which he based his decision to stop Bautista-Silva's vehicle were susceptible of innocent explanation: (1) it was not unusual on that portion of I-95 to see large vehicles, vehicles with California license plates, or vehicles with multiple Hispanic passengers; (2) it was not unusual, in the morning, to see people going to and from work with many males in the car; and (3) I-95 is a heavily traveled road[.] Agent Cole also testified that nothing about the Suburban itself made the vehicle appear suspicious or overloaded. The district court ruled that the agents lacked reasonable suspicion to stop Bautista-Silva's vehicle. The district court credited Agent Cole's testimony about the events but concluded that most of the factors on which Agent Cole based his decision to stop Bautista-Silva's vehicle were too commonplace to support [reasonable suspicion] or to be given meaningful weight in a `totality of the circumstances' analysis. According to the district court, it was of some relevance that Bautista-Silva's vehicle was large, was traveling south on I-95, had California license plates, and contained passengers that appeared to be Hispanic, but the district court found that those facts were insufficient to justify the stop. The district court also found that it would not be proper to assign much weight to the type of vehicle that Bautista-Silva was driving because agents are hardly unanimous in their belief that vehicles such as SUVs, trucks and vans are the vehicles of choice for those engaged in smuggling of aliens. The court weighed against the factors relied on by Agent Cole the lack of proximity of the Suburban to the Mexican border, the normal appearance of the Suburban, Agent Cole's failure to describe the passengers of the Suburban as distinctively Mexican, and that the agents were not aware of any other reasons to suspect this particular vehicle, such as an anonymous tip that it was transporting aliens or a report from other agents that it had recently been observed in an area known for illegal border crossings. The district court concluded that [t]he legality of the stop ... primarily rests on two factors: the behavior of the vehicle, and the behavior of its occupants. The district court concluded that neither of these factors could create a reasonable suspicion of illegal activity. The district court opined that the driving behavior of the Suburban was not remarkable because Agent Cole was not certain that the Suburban was attempting to avoid his notice as it first approached him[.] The district court also opined that Bautista-Silva's acceleration and deceleration were not sufficiently different from the way others routinely drive on Interstate 95 to warrant suspicion. According to the court, Agent Cole's suspicion that Bautista-Silva accelerated after passing his parked patrol vehicle to evade the agents was undermined by the fact that there was no evidence that Bautista-Silva attempted to exit the highway, despite the availability of an off-ramp after Bautista-Silva passed Agent Cole and before Agent Cole caught up to him. The district court ruled that the behavior of the passengers of the Suburban could not be considered in determining whether the agents had reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle because actions of a defendant in staring straight ahead `cannot weigh in the balance in any way whatsoever[.]' The district court denied Bautista-Silva's motion to dismiss the indictment but granted Bautista-Silva's motion to suppress all statements and physical evidence obtained as a result of the stop. This interlocutory appeal by the government followed.