Opinion ID: 1395415
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether Gallardo was Unlawfully Detained at the Time of Consent

Text: Gallardo first challenges the extent of the stop, arguing that Goltz unconstitutionally questioned and detained him after Goltz had voided the traffic citation. Therefore, Gallardo contends, the unlawful detention invalidated any purported consent to the search of his truck. See Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 507-08, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983) (plurality opinion) (Because . . . [the defendant] was being illegally detained when he consented to the search of his luggage, we agree that the consent was tainted by the illegality and was ineffective to justify the search.). A seizure that is justified solely [as a stop for a traffic violation] can become unlawful if it is prolonged beyond the time reasonably required to complete that mission. Illinois v. Caballes, 543 U.S. 405, 407, 125 S.Ct. 834, 160 L.Ed.2d 842 (2005). To prevail on this issue, Gallardo must prove (1) that he was in fact seized; that is, a reasonable person in Gallardo's position would not have felt free to terminate the encounter with Goltz after Goltz voided the traffic ticket and returned Gallardo's paperwork to him, Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 436, 111 S.Ct. 2382, 115 L.Ed.2d 389 (1991); and (2) that Goltz lacked the requisite reasonable suspicion of other criminal activity to prolong Gallardo's detention after all tasks, inquiries, and paperwork related to the initial purpose of the stop had been completed. United States v. Sharpe, 470 U.S. 675, 682, 105 S.Ct. 1568, 84 L.Ed.2d 605 (1985); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20-21, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). An officer has reasonable suspicion necessary to briefly detain a suspect if the circumstances show that the officer could articulate more than an inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or hunch of criminal activity and possessed at least a minimal level of objective justification for making the stop. Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119, 123-24, 120 S.Ct. 673, 145 L.Ed.2d 570 (2000) (internal quotations omitted). We find it unnecessary to address the question of whether Gallardo's continued conversation with Goltz after Goltz asked him if he ha[d] a minute occurred in the context of a seizure or a consensual encounter. Even assuming that a reasonable person in Gallardo's position would not have felt free to leave after Goltz concluded all business relating to the initial purpose of the traffic stop, we find that a number of factors, taken together, supplied Goltz with reasonable suspicion to prolong Gallardo's detention to question him about narcotics trafficking. During the traffic stop, Goltz discovered that Gallardo had put more than 39,000 miles on his truck in seven months. Gallardo's only explanation for the exceptionally high mileage over such a relatively short duration was that he occasionally had to travel from Fontana to other destinations in California for his employer. Gallardo was driving from California to Sioux City; Goltz, an officer of seventeen years' experience, knew that California was a regular source of illegal narcotics in the Midwest and Sioux City was a known destination for narcotics traffickers. Gallardo's asserted purpose of his trip  to drive from Fontana, California to Sioux City (a roundtrip of over 3,000 miles) solely to find an apartment, then immediately return to California  was not particularly credible, especially given the fact that Gallardo told Goltz that he was not looking for any particular kind of apartment in Sioux City but simply wanted something cheap. To a reasonable person, this limited purpose would not justify a trip of such distance, particularly if the traveler states that financial efficiency is a factor in his decision-making. Finally, prior to any conversation with Gallardo about drugs, Goltz learned that law-enforcement authorities in California had made a large methamphetamine bust at Gallardo's California address two years earlier. Gallardo had no criminal record and he asserted to Goltz that he had not lived at that address at the time of the bust. Nevertheless, the temporal and physical proximity between Gallardo and a prior drug-trafficking operation at least raises a suspicion that Gallardo may have had some interaction or connection with the person or people involved in that operation. We agree with the district court that this evidence, as a whole, provided at least a minimal level of objective justification for briefly extending Gallardo's detention after Goltz had already completed all tasks relating to the initial purpose of the stop. Wardlow, 528 U.S. at 123, 120 S.Ct. 673. Gallardo was not unlawfully detained at the time Goltz asked for Gallardo's consent to search the truck.