Opinion ID: 76370
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Duration of the Traffic Stop

Text: 13 An officer may only prolong a traffic stop in special circumstances. First, police officers conducting a traffic stop may prolong the detention to investigate the driver's license and the vehicle registration, and may do so by requesting a computer check. Purcell, 236 F.3d at 1278. Similarly, out of interest for the officer's safety, we have found that officers may permissibly prolong a detention while waiting for the results of a criminal history check that is part of the officer's routine traffic investigation. Id. at 1278. In addition, an officer may prolong a traffic stop if he has articulable suspicion of other illegal activity. 3 Id. at 1277. This case, however, does not present any of these situations.
14 The government argues that our opinion in Purcell stands for the proposition that an officer may generally detain a driver to await the results of a criminal history check so long as the detention does not last an unreasonably long time. The circumstances in Purcell, however, are distinguishable from those in this case in a crucial way. In Purcell, we held that the officer could permissibly detain the defendant pending a criminal history check because the officer had made the request for a criminal history check as part of his routine computer check. Id. at 1278. That check was clearly part of the original traffic stop investigation. Here, Edwards did not request a criminal history check as part of his routine computer check. Edwards only requested a license check when he initially stopped Boyce and had received that information when he told Boyce that he would only get a warning citation. Once Edwards had completed writing the warning citation and returned Boyce's license and rental agreement, the traffic violation investigation was complete and, as Edwards admits in his testimony, Boyce was free to go. R2 at 57. 15 Edwards did not request the criminal history check until several minutes after he had written the warning. Therefore, the criminal history check could not be part of the original traffic stop investigation and could not be the basis for prolonging Boyce's detention. Once the traffic stop was at an end, Edwards should have let Boyce go unless he had a reasonable and articulable suspicion of some other criminal wrong doing. 4
16 The government also argues that Edwards had a reasonable and articulable suspicion sufficient to detain Boyce beyond the initial traffic stop. In United States v. Tapia, we stated that reasonable suspicion requires that the officer be able to point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant that intrusion. 912 F.2d 1367, 1370 (11th Cir.1990) (citation omitted). Further, we stated that reasonable suspicion is determined by the totality of the circumstances such that, while some individual factors may be consistent with innocent travel ... [they can also], when taken together, give rise to a reasonable suspicion. Id. Nevertheless, `reasonable suspicion must be more than an inchoate hunch, and the [F]ourth [A]mendment accordingly requires that police articulate some minimal, objective justification for an investigatory stop.' Id. 17 In this case, the district court found that Edwards articulated enough factors that, when taken together, gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that Boyce was engaged in criminal activity. Specifically, the district court adopted the magistrate judge's report which listed the following factors as creating a sufficient basis for reasonable and articulable suspicion: 18 that drug dealers use the Interstate 95 corridor and frequently drive rented cars [as Boyce was doing] ....[,] that [Boyce] was unusually talkative and nervous, that his story about driving from New Jersey to Florida to see an ex-girlfriend seemed suspicious, that his rental agreement was inconsistent with his stated travel plans, and that he was sweating profusely ... [and] he continued to sweat and act nervously after learning that he would only receive a warning citation. 5 19 R1-19 at 6-7, adopted by District Court at R1-28. 20 While these combined factors may raise a reasonable suspicion in another case, the record here does not substantiate the district court's findings that all of these factors existed in this case. Moreover, when we look at the factors that do clearly exist in this case, they do not amount to a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. 21 Edwards and the district court relied heavily on Boyce's nervousness and the behaviors that conveyed this nervousness such as sweating, being unusually talkative, and moving back and forth as if looking for a place to run. R2 at 18. We find that the district court clearly erred in finding Boyce was unusually nervous because the videotape belies Edwards's testimony as to these behaviors. For example, Edwards testified that he had never seen anyone sweat so much in his life as Boyce. Id. at 25. But, if someone were sweating so profusely, one would expect to see him wipe his brow more than once in the span of twenty minutes. The tape does not show Boyce wiping his brow, even once, until the stop had been on-going for twenty minutes. Further, Boyce's shirt never appeared to be sticking to him and it did not appear to have any sweat stains. 22 Similarly, the tape does not show Boyce to be particularly talkative. Boyce did try to explain his driving behavior at the beginning of the stop and said, a few times, that his license is good, but through most of the tape he is merely answering Edwards's questions. In fact, after Edwards went to his vehicle to find his citation book, Boyce hardly said a word, speaking only to answer Edward's questions. 23 In addition, even though Edwards testified that Boyce was moving back and forth as if looking for a place to run while they were waiting for the drug dog unit to arrive, most of the time Boyce was, in fact, standing still. When Boyce did move, he shifted his weight back and forth without actually moving from the spot where Edwards asked him to wait. Further, this alleged pacing occurred after Edwards had unlawfully decided to detain Boyce. 24 The district court also relied on Edwards's testimony that Boyce continued to act nervously even after Edwards told him he would receive just a warning instead of a ticket. Again, we find that the tape belies Edwards's testimony. As we have already noted, the tape shows that Boyce was not acting nervously even before he was told he would only receive a warning. In addition, the tape shows that Edwards did not have time to observe any continued nervousness before he called the drug dog unit because less than forty seconds elapsed between the time Edwards told Boyce he would not get a ticket and the time Edwards returned to his car to call for the dogs. Ex. 1 at 00:49:54-00:50:29. 25 Besides the nervousness, the district court also relied on Edward's testimony that he was suspicious because Boyce was traveling such a long distance to see an ex-girlfriend. The problem with using this factor as a basis for reasonable suspicion is that Boyce explained to Edwards why he was making the trip. Boyce was not sure of the current status of the relationship because his girlfriend had moved to Florida while he lived in New Jersey. Id. at 01:41:30-39. Once Boyce explained his situation, suspicious inconsistencies virtually evaporated and any justification... for further investigation [based on this inconsistency] dissipated. Wood, 106 F.3d at 947. Further, even if Boyce had not explained himself, his travel plans, though unusual in Edwards's opinion, do not suggest any criminal activity. 26 This leaves as the only factors creating a reasonable suspicion: 1) driving a rental car on a known drug corridor and 2) planning to return the car two days late. The more suspicious of these factors is the plan to return the car late. We, and other courts, have, in certain circumstances, found that inconsistencies in travel plans can give rise to a reasonable suspicion. See e.g., Williams, 271 F.3d at 1270; United States v. Pruitt, 174 F.3d 1215, 1220 (11th Cir.1999); Wood, 106 F.3d at 947; United States v. Harris, 928 F.2d 1113, 1117 (11th Cir.1991). In all of those cases, however, the inconsistency was one of several factors considered and was more directly indicative of some sort of criminal activity. 27 For example, conflicting answers about where one is traveling to or from may give rise to a suspicion of drug activity because most drivers know the answers to these questions and because the driver may be trying to hide the fact that he is going to or coming from a known drug-source state. Williams, 271 F.3d at 1270; Wood, 106 F.3d at 947. Similarly, it raises a reasonable suspicion that the car is stolen if the rental agreement shows that the person detained is not authorized to drive the vehicle. Pruitt, 174 F.3d at 1220. In this case, the fact that Boyce was planning to return his car late does not suggest any criminal activity. 28 The plan to return the car late, combined with the fact that Boyce was driving a rental car on a widely used interstate that also happens to be a known drug corridor, does not create a reasonable suspicion in this case. These factors would likely apply to a considerable number of those traveling for perfectly legitimate purposes and do[] not reasonably provide... suspicion of criminal activity. United States v. Smith, 799 F.2d 704, 707 (11th Cir.1986). See also, Reid v. Georgia, 448 U.S. 438, 441, 100 S.Ct. 2752, 2754, 65 L.Ed.2d 890 (finding that arriving early in the morning, when law enforcement activity is lower, from a known drug-source state with no luggage other than shoulder bags was not sufficient for reasonable suspicion because those factors describe a very large category of presumably innocent travelers, who would be subject to virtually random seizures were the Court to conclude that as little foundation as there was in [that] case could justify a seizure); Karnes v. Skrutski, 62 F.3d 485, 493 (3rd Cir.1995) ([T]he factors together must serve to eliminate a substantial portion of innocent travelers before the requirement of reasonable suspicion will be satisfied.). Because the totality of the circumstances are not sufficient to create a reasonable suspicion that Boyce was involved in criminal activity, Edwards could not lawfully hold him beyond the time of the initial investigation. Therefore, the resulting search was unconstitutional. 6 29 Moreover, it seems to us that the decision to detain Boyce and to call the drug dog unit was based on Boyce's refusal to consent to a search of his vehicle. Edwards testified that Boyce was suspicious because he was nervous and because he had unusual travel plans. But what is troubling to us is that all of these factors were present before Edwards decided to issue a warning citation and yet, Edwards, at that point, was still willing to let Boyce go with nothing but a warning. The only significant event between the time that Edwards wrote the warning citation and the time Boyce called the drug dog unit was Boyce asserting his constitutional right not to let Edwards search his car. 7 This suggests that the true reason Edwards chose to detain Boyce was because Boyce would not consent to a search of his car. Williams, 271 F.3d at 1271 (10th Cir.2001) (noting that, when the only significant event between the time the police said the defendant was free to go and the arrival of the drug unit was the refusal to consent to a search, the circumstances suggest[] ostensibly that the officer based his detention of [defendant] solely on his refusal to consent to the officer's request to search the vehicle.). In addition, the tape shows that Edwards immediately called in the drug dog unit after Boyce refused to allow a search. The immediacy of Edwards's response also indicates to us that the refusal to consent was the deciding factor for Edwards to continue Boyce's detention. The police cannot base their decision to prolong a traffic stop on the detainee's refusal to consent to a search. Such a refusal may only be considered when the police have already observed, before asking for permission to search, facts sufficient to raise a reasonable suspicion. Id. (holding that the officer could choose to detain defendant after he refused to consent to a search of his car if the officer already had sufficient reasonable suspicion to detain [the defendant] for the purpose of the canine drug search). In this case, as already discussed, Edwards had not observed facts sufficient to raise a reasonable suspicion when he asked for consent. Therefore, Edwards could not consider Boyce's refusal to consent in making his decision to detain Boyce. Because the tape shows that Edwards did unlawfully base his decision on Boyce's refusal to consent, the detention and search were unconstitutional.