Opinion ID: 165698
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Refusal of Consent

Text: 13 Mr. Santos argues that it was his refusal to allow a search of his suitcase, rather than the concatenation of circumstances invoked by the trooper and accepted by the district court, that was the basis for the finding of suspicion. Regrettably, Mr. Santos's argument is not without support in the record. At the conclusion of the suppression hearing the district court commented that I think there was a permission to search here, except he declared the suitcase out of bounds, which was in itself suspicious. R. Vol. 2 at 122. Mr. Santos's unwillingness to consent resurfaced at his sentencing hearing. The district court stated: 14 I think that Officer Peach [sic] had reasonable grounds to suspect that you were carrying something you shouldn't have been, and particularly when you allow the search of every part of the car except that black bag sitting there. I think that that makes — would make any law enforcement officer reasonably suspicious. It sure would me. And I think it would anybody else. 15 And I think that that is an exception to the rule — that the officer can't consider the denial of the right to search as a suspicious circumstance because in this case, it was with reference to that bag that was sitting there, and I believe that that would be an exception. So, basically, I really don't think your appeal is worth a darn. 16 R. Vol. 3 at 14-15. 17 The district court was wrong about this. A refusal to consent to a search cannot itself form the basis for reasonable suspicion: it should go without saying that consideration of such a refusal would violate the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Wood, 106 F.3d 942, 946 (10th Cir.1997); see also United States v. Dozal, 173 F.3d 787, 794 (10th Cir.1999); Hunnicutt, 135 F.3d at 1350-51; accord United States v. Hyppolite, 65 F.3d 1151, 1157 (4th Cir.1995); United States v. Alexander, 835 F.2d 1406, 1409 n. 3 (11th Cir.1988). If refusal of consent were a basis for reasonable suspicion, nothing would be left of Fourth Amendment protections. A motorist who consented to a search could be searched; and a motorist who refused consent could be searched, as well. With considerable understatement, this Court has observed that the requirements of reasonable suspicion and probable cause for warrantless searches and seizures would be considerably less effective if citizens' insistence that searches and seizures be conducted in conformity with constitutional norms could create the suspicion or cause that renders their consent unnecessary. Hunnicutt, 135 F.3d at 1351. 18 Moreover, the district court's opaque reference to an exception when the refusal is with reference to that bag that was sitting there is unsupported by any legal principles of which we are aware. A person has the right to limit the scope of his consent. United States v. Marquez, 337 F.3d 1203, 1207 (10th Cir.2003). However suspicious the tailoring of consent may be as a matter of common sense, it cannot be a basis for reasonable suspicion under the Fourth Amendment, lest the very idea of voluntary consent be rendered fictional. 19 If the district court had relied on Mr. Santos's refusal to consent in its order denying the motion to suppress, that would be reversible error. See Williams, 271 F.3d at 1271 (noting that the defendant's contention that the officer based his detention solely on a refusal to consent to a search, if true, of course ... would result in an unconstitutional search). But that is not what happened. The district court's order denying the motion to suppress listed some nine factors that it believed, taken as a totality, supported reasonable suspicion, and Mr. Santos's refusal to consent to the search of his suitcase was not among them. The court's remarks on the consent issue occurred at the close of the suppression hearing and again during the sentencing hearing. We do not think they so infected the court's analysis of the suppression issue as to warrant per se reversal. We must, however, bear the court's remarks in mind as we consider the nine factors listed in the court's order, to make sure that the denial of the motion to suppress is objectively supportable on those grounds, without the illegitimate additional consideration of the withholding of consent. The due weight that an appellate court must accord the inferences drawn by the district court, Ornelas, 517 U.S. at 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657, is substantially diminished when there is reason to believe those inferences were affected by an illegitimate consideration. 20