Opinion ID: 3035323
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: “Specific, Articulable Facts”

Text: A defendant has the ultimate burden of proof on a Fourth Amendment motion to suppress. United States v. Cayman, 404 F.3d 1196, 1999 (9th Cir. 2005). But when a traffic stop based on Whren is at issue, the police officer has the initial burden of production. That is, Officer Boehmer had the burden of providing “specific, articulable facts” to justify a “reasonable suspicion” to believe that Willis had violated the traffic laws. Terry, 392 U.S. at 21; Michael R., 90 F.3d at 346; Lopez-Soto, 205 F.3d at 1104. In the absence of such “speUNITED STATES v. WILLIS 16575 cific, articulable facts” provided by the police officer, the defendant has no obligation to refute the police officer’s testimony, for he has failed to satisfy his initial burden of production. Unless the police officer provides “specific, articulable facts,” a traffic stop under Whren is invalid. Officer Boehmer failed to carry his initial burden of production of providing “specific, articulable facts” to justify a reasonable suspicion that Willis violated the traffic laws. Even when invited to do so, Officer Boehmer failed to point to a single provision of Nevada or Las Vegas traffic laws that Willis might have violated. Officer Boehmer admitted forthrightly in his testimony, “I don’t really write too many tickets.” Rather, “I just mostly do criminal investigations.” Officer Boehmer first asserted that Willis’s “rapid turn” onto Las Vegas Boulevard was a traffic violation, but he was unable, even when asked, to specify any law that had been violated. Officer Boehmer next asserted that Willis had broken the speed limit, but Officer Boehmer did not specify the applicable speed limit, and was unable to say, even when asked, exactly how fast Willis was going. It is apparent from Officer Boehmer’s narrative that Willis’s speed would have been limited by the route he took, for Willis never had more than two blocks of straight driving before turning onto another street. Finally, Officer Boehmer asserted that Willis had made an illegal U-turn on Hoover Avenue. But it is apparent from Officer Boehmer’s testimony that the U-turn was accomplished on a stretch of Hoover that was bordered by residential apartments. Officer Boehmer failed to specify any traffic law forbidding a U-turn in a residential area. He also failed to specify that Willis’s U-turn was performed in an unsafe manner, or in any other manner that would have violated the traffic laws.