Opinion ID: 165698
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Prior Criminal History

Text: 47 The next factor discussed by the district court is that Mr. Santos denied that he had a prior criminal record. After Mr. Santos and Trooper Peech had left the patrol car and were discussing Mr. Santos's travel plans, dispatch notified Trooper Peech that Mr. Santos had a positive criminal history for drugs. When Mr. Santos questioned Trooper Peech's reasons for asking for permission to search for drugs, Trooper Peech informed him that his story was inconsistent and that he had a prior criminal history for drugs. Mr. Santos denied having any prior drug charges. 48 This is the most powerful reason the district court offered for sustaining the finding of reasonable suspicion. To be sure, this Court has held that a prior criminal history is by itself insufficient to create reasonable suspicion. United States v. Sandoval, 29 F.3d 537, 542 (10th Cir.1994). Even people with prior convictions retain Fourth Amendment rights; they are not roving targets for warrantless searches. But in conjunction with other factors, criminal history contributes powerfully to the reasonable suspicion calculus. Id.; see also McRae, 81 F.3d at 1535-36. Moreover, when the individual lies about having a criminal history, the inference of wrongdoing is all the more powerful. See id. at 1536 n. 7 (noting that the driver's lie about his criminal history made it very easy to conclude that [the officer had] articulable suspicion).