Opinion ID: 2800433
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Multiple Suspended Driver’s Licenses

Text: Perhaps most importantly, Mr. Pettit challenges the trooper’s consideration of his two suspended licenses in formulating objectively reasonable suspicion, arguing that the fact of their suspension “advances the inquiry very little, if at all.” Aplt. Br. 21. However, the Tenth Circuit has held specifically that driving with a suspended license can “contribute to the formation of an objectively reasonable suspicion of illegal activity.” United States v. Hunnicutt, 135 F.3d 1345, 1349 (10th Cir. 1998) (citing United States v. Jones, 44 F.3d 860, 872 (10th Cir. 1995)); see also United States v. Pack, 612 F.3d 341, 361 (5th Cir. 2010) (holding that the defendant’s “suspended license could have contributed to [the trooper’s] reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, since licenses are usually suspended for less than law abiding conduct”). Further, Mr. Pettit’s two suspended licenses might have amplified the implausibility of his travel plans. The trooper reasonably could have doubted that Mr. Pettit would volunteer to help a friend transport her car across the country, alone, when he lacked a valid license. Based on his professional experience, the - 15 - trooper could have concluded that a driver would assume the risk of driving without a license only if he was well compensated, such as in the course of an illicit drug deal. We acknowledge that an officer could have reached an opposite, innocent conclusion—that a driver would be unlikely to transport contraband if suspended licenses might arouse the suspicion of law enforcement. But, again, we need not rule out the possibility of innocent conduct in order to find reasonable suspicion. Poolaw, 565 F.3d at 736. Additionally, the trooper requested Mr. Pettit’s driver’s license twice before Mr. Pettit produced a license clearly labeled “Nondriver.” And, when Mr. Pettit produced the license, he passed over a suspended California license. Although these actions are not independently incriminating, there is no apparent error in the trooper’s inference that Mr. Pettit was attempting to hide or otherwise avoid producing one or both of his suspended licenses. Mr. Pettit argues that we should discount his license suspensions in light of our approach to previous criminal convictions. We have been cautious of lending excessive weight to criminal convictions, holding that a criminal record alone cannot give rise to reasonable suspicion. “If the law were otherwise, any person with any sort of criminal record . . . could be subjected to a Terry-type investigative stop by a law enforcement officer at any time without the need for any other justification at all.” Wood, 106 F.3d at 948 (quoting United States v. Sandoval, 29 F.3d 537, 543 (10th Cir. 1994)). Yet, crucially, the government - 16 - need not rely on Mr. Pettit’s suspended licenses alone to support reasonable suspicion. Thus, the licenses, combined with several other suspicious factors, are relevant. Id. (discounting reliance on prior criminal convictions “[g]iven the near-complete absence of other factors which reasonably gave rise to suspicion”). 2