Opinion ID: 156171
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: United States v. Stone

Text: The government argues United States v. Stone, 866 F.2d 359 (10th Cir. 1989), is the controlling authority in this case and the district court erred by distinguishing the case. In Stone, we held the Fourth Amendment was not implicated when a trained drug dog leapt into the open hatchback door of a suspect’s car during a valid Terry stop because 1 Although the dissent asserts we have mischaracterized the court’s finding, these words speak for themselves. The district court simply found the defendant’s consent to the entry of his van by the dog was involuntary. -4- the dog’s action was “instinctive.” Acting on reasonable suspicion that Mr. Stone possessed narcotics, police officers stopped his car and asked to see a citation he had received earlier in the day. Mr. Stone opened his hatchback door to retrieve the citation and, while the door was open, an officer’s drug dog leapt into the rear of the car and alerted on a duffel bag. The police then searched the duffel bag and the car and discovered narcotics. Mr. Stone was arrested and charged with possession of narcotics with intent to distribute. Although the officers in Stone had reasonable suspicion justifying the stop, until the dog alerted on the duffel bag, the Stone court reasoned, the officers had no probable cause to search Mr. Stone’s vehicle. Id. at 362-63. The dog, the court observed, “created a troubling issue under the Fourth Amendment” because he did not key on the duffel bag until he was inside Mr. Stone’s car. Id. at 363. If the dog’s leap into the car violated the Fourth Amendment, police were not entitled to draw probable cause from the dog’s alert, and the resulting search was illegal. Based on the facts of Mr. Stone’s case, we decided the dog’s leap did not implicate the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 364. Mr. Winningham’s case differs from Stone in two material respects, either of which, in our opinion, renders Stone inapposite. First, our holding in Stone was driven not by what the officers did, but what they did not do: There is no evidence, nor does Stone contend, that the police asked Stone to open the hatchback so the dog could jump in. Nor is there any evidence the police handler encouraged the dog to jump in the car. The judge asked the Officer in charge of the dog: So you didn't encourage him or discourage -5- him from jumping into the back? And the Officer replied: That's correct. I just let his leash go and let him go where his nose would take him. In these circumstances, we think the police remained within the range of activities they may permissibly engage in when they have reasonable suspicion to believe an automobile contains narcotics. Stone, 866 F.2d at 364. In Mr. Winningham’s case, the officers themselves opened the door, allowing the van to sit on the side of the highway with the sliding door wide open for a period of at least six minutes until the drug dog could arrive. The dog handler then unleashed the dog as the dog neared the open door. A desire to facilitate a dog sniff of the van’s interior, absent in Stone, seems readily apparent here.2 Second, the officers in Stone acted under reasonable suspicion, a circumstance underscored by our limited holding. Id. (holding, “[i]n these circumstances, we think the police remained within the range of activities they may permissibly engage in when they have reasonable suspicion to believe an automobile contains narcotics” (emphasis added)). In the present case, however, as we discuss in Part III, reasonable suspicion was exhausted after Officer Almengor searched the van’s interior. The subsequent police activity — detaining the van for six minutes to await the dog and allowing the dog to sniff 2 The dissent infers more from this statement than intended. We do not state, nor do we imply, the officers “encouraged” the dog to enter the vehicle. We do, however, draw a distinction between this case and Stone based upon the conduct of the officers that “facilitated” the dog’s entry into the van. In Stone the defendant himself opened his vehicle and provided an opportunity for the dog to jump through the opening. Here, it was Agent Almengor who opened the door to the van, thus creating the opportunity. This fact is in the testimony and clear from the record. Citing it does not depend upon an assessment of the credibility of the witness. -6- any portion of the van, internal or external — was permitted, if at all, by Mr. Winningham’s consent, not by reasonable suspicion. Because the range of acceptable police activity in the absence of reasonable suspicion may differ considerably from the range of acceptable police activity in the presence of reasonable suspicion, we see no reason to find Stone controlling here. Stone is therefore distinguishable on both factual and legal grounds and is not controlling authority in this case.