Opinion ID: 575288
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Motion to Suppress: Seized Cocaine and Codefendants' Statements

Text: 16 Mejia contends that the trial court wrongly admitted into evidence the cocaine seized from the tractor trailers and the statements of Mejia's codefendants. He argues that the investigating officers did not have reasonable suspicion to stop the tractor trailers driven by Alvarez and Quintana. Alternatively, he argues that Alvarez's and Quintana's roadside interrogations, and Fernandez's interrogation at the hotel, were tantamount to arrests, that these arrests were made without probable cause, and that any subsequent consent to search was not freely given. Under either theory, Mejia concludes that the evidence associated with the Quintana, Alvarez, and Fernandez arrests was tainted and should not have been admitted. 17 We disagree. The totality of the circumstances gave the officers probable cause for any arrests that may have taken place, and a fortiori reasonable suspicion to search. See, e.g., United States v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 8, 109 S.Ct. 1581, 1585, 104 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989) (officers may rely on totality of circumstances in determining reasonable suspicion); United States v. Del Vizo, 918 F.2d 821, 827 (9th Cir.1990) (pattern of activity consistent with narcotics trafficking gave rise to probable cause). Although Mejia cites cases in which probable cause was not found, e.g., United States v. Robert L., 874 F.2d 701, 704 (9th Cir.1989); United States v. Freitas, 716 F.2d 1216, 1220-24 (9th Cir.1983), none of these cases deals with a totality of circumstances like that of the instant case. Legitimate truck owner-operators generally cannot afford to let their vehicles remain in a parking lot for three days, nor can they afford to ride with their trucks nearly empty when loads would be easy to come by. Legitimate truck operators also do not load their cargo in hotel parking lots, and they carefully secure their loaded cargo as a safety precaution. The defendants' other activities, such as the pager calls and the evasive driving, would not by themselves sustain the officers' inference of illegal activity. But taken in context, these activities supported the officers' overall determination that the defendants were engaged in cocaine trafficking. 18 Because probable cause existed, we need not decide whether the defendants' interrogations constituted arrests. We need only note that consent to search was freely given in all cases. The investigating officers used no coercion or threats of force, and the defendants cooperated freely with the officers' questioning. We hold that the evidence of the seized cocaine and of Mejia's codefendants' incriminating statements was legally obtained and was properly admitted. 19