Opinion ID: 4148521
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Angela

Text: The government’s argument regarding Angela would sustain the admission of the evidence against both Angela and Adrienne. It contends that even absent reasonable suspicion, the detention was lawful because there was probable cause to arrest Angela for driving while not in possession of her driver’s license. See K.S.A. § 8-244. We agree that if there was probable cause to arrest for a crime, it does not matter whether the officer subjectively detained the person for that crime. See Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 813 (1996) (constitutional reasonableness does not depend on actual motivations of individual officers involved). The problem for the government is that there was not probable cause to arrest Angela. 13 To begin with, we question whether the document Angela gave to Krause—the receipt from the California Department of Motor Vehicles—would not be a “driver’s license” under the Kansas statute. (It apparently sufficed for the rental company to let her take the car.) But even if it was not the requisite license, Krause did not have probable cause to arrest her when the detention was continued to await the drug dog. To be sure, the Kansas statute requires every licensee to “have his or her driver’s license in his or her immediate possession at all times when operating a motor vehicle.” K.S.A. § 8-244. It goes on to say, however, that “no person charged with violating this section shall be convicted if such person produces in court or the office of the arresting officer a driver’s license theretofore issued to such person and valid at the time of arrest.” Id. Upon learning from the dispatcher that Angela had a valid driver’s license in California, Krause had enough information to know that Angela could not be convicted for this offense. An officer does not have probable cause to arrest a person for a crime when he knows she could not be convicted. See Brown v. Fisher, 251 F. App’x 527, 534 (10th Cir. 2007) (expressing doubt that officer could arrest driver for violation of this very statute when officer knew that driver was licensed); see also United States v. Edwards, 632 F.3d 633, 640 (10th Cir. 2001) (“If the police learn information that destroys their probable cause to arrest a defendant, the arrest may become illegal.”)