Opinion ID: 702508
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Did the district court err by denying a motion to suppress?

Text: 71 Garza contends that the court erred by admitting the money seized from the Toronado driven by Israel Flores, Flores' statement to the Texas DPS troopers and Garza's own statements to Trooper Castillo. After a pre-trial hearing, the district court denied the motion to suppress. Garza challenges this ruling and contends that this evidence should have been excluded. 72 Approximately two weeks before the stop, Trooper Castillo was contacted by a confidential informant (CI) with whom he had worked before. The CI told Castillo that she was friends with Garza and that Garza was involved in drug trafficking. A week later, the CI phoned Trooper Castillo again and told him that she had travelled to Michigan with Garza and that they had brought back money. The CI also stated that they planned to return to Lansing, Michigan to pick up more money. Several days later, Castillo heard from relatives of the CI that a black Oldsmobile Toronado loaded with money was being driven from Michigan by Flores. Trooper Castillo was given a specific license number and given the approximate time that the car would be on U.S. Highway 77 in Texas. 73 Castillo arranged for surveillance along Highway 77 and the Toronado was spotted by agents at about 7:00 pm on November 14, 1989. Officers followed the Toronado in unmarked cars until 8:20 pm, when they had a marked police car pull it over for speeding. Trooper Castillo candidly testified that the reason the trooper stopped him besides the speeding is because I asked him to. The officer agreed. Flores drove the Toronado to a DPS outpost, where the search began at 8:30 pm. Within ten minutes of starting the search, officers discovered $274,540 in cash hidden behind the vents in the back interior panels of the car. At some point, Flores was issued a warning for speeding. 74 Trooper Castillo advised Flores of his Miranda rights and took his statement. Flores told Trooper Castillo that he was unaware of the money in the car and that he was going to deliver the car to Garza. In the meantime, officers had also confirmed that the car was registered to Garza. Trooper Castillo drove to Garza's home where he informed Garza that he was an officer with the DPS, told him of the seizure and gave Garza a Miranda warning. Castillo then questioned Garza about the money and Garza denied that it was his. Garza refused to make a written statement and Castillo left, as Israel Flores arrived at Garza's house. 75 The district court found, inter alia, that Flores was in fact speeding at the time that he was pulled over, that Flores made a valid consent to the search, that Trooper Castillo gave proper Miranda warnings to Garza and Garza had made statements to Castillo freely and without coercion. 76
77 Garza first maintains that, because the Texas troopers stopped the Toronado on the pretext that it was speeding but for the actual purpose of investigating the CI's tip, the stop was illegal. This argument is foreclosed by United States v. Roberson, 6 F.3d 1088 (5th Cir.1993), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1322, 127 L.Ed.2d 671 (1994) (relying on United States v. Causey, 834 F.2d 1179 (5th Cir.1987) (en banc)). Under Roberson, while we do not applaud what appears to be a common practice of some law enforcement officers to use technical violations as a cover for exploring more serious violations, we may look no further than the court's finding that [the officer] had a legitimate basis for stopping the [vehicle]. 6 F.3d at 1092. Garza does not dispute that Flores was speeding, a factual finding which is supported by Trooper Castillo's uncontradicted testimony at the suppression hearing. As Roberson makes clear, this is the end of our inquiry. 21 78
79 Garza next maintains that the search of the Toronado was illegal because the troopers did not obtain a warrant. However, the district court found that Flores gave a valid, uncoerced consent to the search and concluded that the consensual search was constitutional under United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 94 S.Ct. 988, 39 L.Ed.2d 242 (1974). Garza argues that the consent was not valid because it was tainted by an illegally pretextual stop. Because we have concluded that the stop was not unlawful, we also conclude that the consent was not tainted. 80 On appeal, Garza asserts that the scope of the search exceeded Flores' consent. 22 Garza never presented this argument to the district court; we review for plain error. Calverley. We measure the scope of consent by asking  'what would the typical reasonable person have understood by the exchange between the officer and the [consenter].'  United States v. McSween, 53 F.3d 684, 687 (5th Cir.1995) (quoting Florida v. Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248, 251, 111 S.Ct. 1801, 1803-04, 114 L.Ed.2d 297 (1991)). Using this standard, we conclude that the district court did not plainly err. 81 Before the troopers asked for his consent to search, they told Flores that they believed contraband had been placed in the vehicle. Flores then signed a written consent that permitted the troopers to search the vehicle including the containers and contents. Flores was present during the search and did not attempt to stop or restrict the search at any time. McSween, 53 F.3d at 688 (failure to object to breadth of search indicates that search was within scope of consent). Contrary to Garza's description of the search as a dismantling or dissection of the car, the record reveals that troopers merely unscrewed two screws and removed two vent covers from the interior panels. Compare United States v. Ibarra, 965 F.2d 1354 (5th Cir.1992) (evenly divided en banc court) (agents used sledgehammer to smash open securely boarded-up attic). Given these circumstances, we have no doubt that the district court did not plainly err by admitting this evidence as the product of a valid consent. 23 3. Garza's statements. 82 Garza first asserts that his statements were the fruits of an illegal search and seizure. This argument is, of course, precluded by our conclusions above. 83 Garza next complains that he did not waive his Miranda rights. We uphold the district court's findings of fact related to this issue unless they are clearly erroneous, but we make a de novo review of the ultimate conclusion of voluntariness. United States v. Rojas-Martinez, 968 F.2d 415, 418 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 828, 121 L.Ed.2d 698 (1992). With these standards in mind, we conclude that Garza's statement was voluntary. Garza does not dispute the facts as we explained them above, but emphasizes that Trooper Castillo began asking questions immediately after he finished reading Garza his rights; that Garza was not given a written waiver form; that Garza was reluctant to answer some of Castillo's questions and refused to make a written statement. However, contrary to Garza's suggestion, his refusal to make a written statement after having already made verbal statements supports a conclusion that, had he wished to remain silent earlier, he would have done so. The fact that Trooper Castillo did not try to further question Garza after Garza declined to make a written statement also supports the court's finding that Garza was not coerced. In view of the circumstances, the district court did not err in deciding that Garza's statements were voluntary. 84 In sum, we conclude that the district court did not err by admitting the evidence obtained through the stop and search of the Toronado on November 14, 1989.