Opinion ID: 793575
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Stop and Detention of Escalade and its Occupants

Text: 18 Temporary detention of individuals during the stop of an automobile by the police, even if only for a brief period and for a limited purpose, constitutes a `seizure' of `persons' within the meaning of [the Fourth Amendment]. Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 809-10, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996). Because such a seizure affects the Fourth Amendment interests of all the occupants, Perez as the driver and Rhodes as a passenger may each challenge his detention during the stop of the Escalade. United States v. Richardson, 385 F.3d 625, 629 (6th Cir.2004) (citing Michigan Dep't of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444, 450, 110 S.Ct. 2481, 110 L.Ed.2d 412 (1990), and Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 653, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979)). The dual inquiry for evaluating the reasonableness of an investigative stop requires examination of whether the officer's action was justified at its inception, and whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).
19 While Officer Johnson testified that he stopped the Escalade for failing to use a turn signal when changing lanes, there was also testimony that the drug interdiction unit was directed to conduct an investigative stop even if there was no traffic violation. If there is probable cause to believe a traffic violation had occurred, the officer's actual motivation is immaterial. Whren, 517 U.S. at 812-13, 116 S.Ct. 1769; United States v. Ferguson, 8 F.3d 385, 391 (6th Cir.1993) ( en banc ). An ordinary traffic stop is like an investigative detention, the scope of which is governed by Terry principles. United States v. Hill, 195 F.3d 258, 264 (6th Cir.1999). Once the purpose of an ordinary traffic stop is completed, the officer may not further detain the vehicle or its occupants unless something that occurred during the traffic stop generated the necessary reasonable suspicion to justify a further detention. United States v. Mesa, 62 F.3d 159, 162 (6th Cir.1995); see also Erwin, 155 F.3d at 822. 20
21 Defendants do not deny the failure to signal the lane change, but argue that under state law the only time a driver must signal before changing lanes appears to be when that change will affect other vehicles. Tennessee v. Smith, 21 S.W.3d 251, 257 (1999) (interpreting Tenn.Code Ann. §§ 55-8-142 and 55-8-143(a)). Officer Johnson agreed that not every failure to signal a lane change would constitute a violation. Johnson conceded that although he was following the Escalade, he was not affected by its failure to signal the lane change. Johnson also testified that he did not see whether any other vehicles on the roadway were affected by the failure to signal. As a result, defendants argue that Officer Johnson did not have probable cause to make the traffic stop because a reasonable officer could not have believed the failure to signal the lane change constituted a traffic violation under these circumstances. Significantly, the government does not rely on the traffic violation to justify the stop, or point to anything that occurred during the traffic stop that would give rise to reasonable suspicion that the occupants had engaged or were engaging in criminal activity. 22 The district court did not decide whether a reasonable officer could have had probable cause to believe a traffic violation had been committed, but concluded instead that there was reasonable suspicion at the time the stop was made to believe the occupants had been or were involved in a drug transaction. We agree. Unlike cases in which an ordinary traffic stop was made in hopes of generating reasonable suspicion, see, e.g., United States v. Townsend, 305 F.3d 537 (6th Cir.2002), this case is best analyzed as an investigative Terry stop for which reasonable suspicion was either present or absent based on the information and surveillance that preceded the decision to have the Escalade stopped. 23
24 Under Terry, an officer is permitted to stop and briefly detain a person for investigative purposes if the officer has a reasonable suspicion supported by articulable facts that criminal activity `may be afoot,' even if the officer lacks probable cause. United States v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 7, 109 S.Ct. 1581, 104 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989) (quoting Terry, 392 U.S. at 30, 88 S.Ct. 1868). Likewise, a moving vehicle may be stopped to investigate an officer's reasonable and articulable suspicion that its occupants had engaged, were engaging, or were about to engage in criminal activity. United States v. Hensley, 469 U.S. 221, 226-27, 105 S.Ct. 675, 83 L.Ed.2d 604 (1985); United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696, 702, 103 S.Ct. 2637, 77 L.Ed.2d 110 (1983). Courts must determine from the totality of the circumstances whether law enforcement had an objective and particularized basis for suspecting criminal wrongdoing. United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 272, 273-77, 122 S.Ct. 744 (2002); United States v. Orsolini, 300 F.3d 724, 728-29 (6th Cir.2002). 25 Perez argues that the stop was based on nothing more than constitutionally inadequate hunches, and Rhodes contends that the agents simply observed innocent activities normally associated with checking out of a hotel. While reasonable suspicion must be based on more than ill-defined hunches, officers may draw on their own experience and specialized training to make inferences from and deductions about the cumulative information available to them that `might well elude an untrained person.' Arvizu, 534 U.S. at 273, 122 S.Ct. 744 (quoting United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 418, 101 S.Ct. 690, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981)). In considering the totality of the circumstances, we must determine whether the individual factors, taken as a whole, give rise to reasonable suspicion, even if each individual factor is entirely consistent with innocent behavior when examined separately. United States v. Smith, 263 F.3d 571, 588 (6th Cir.2001) (citing Sokolow, 490 U.S. at 9, 109 S.Ct. 1581). 26 The factors to be aggregated in this case begin with the fact that the pearl-white Escalade EXT with temporary Kentucky plates came under surveillance at the request of one DEA office to another because it was believed it might be involved in transporting cocaine and marijuana from Houston, Texas, to the Middle District of Tennessee. That same day, the Escalade was found where OnStar indicated it would be, was seen driving in an erratic manner that suggested an attempt to evade surveillance, and was observed in an apparent rendezvous with an unidentified Hispanic female at a gas station. 27 These facts must be viewed in conjunction with the activities observed at the Residence Inn the next morning. First, after loading luggage into the Escalade outside Room 1024, Perez and Flores drove around the hotel, went into Room 213 very briefly, and came out carrying the duffle bags that were later retrieved from the Tahoe. This suggested to the experienced DEA agents that the second room had been used to store drugs or money, while the men spent the night in the first room. Then, after waiting outside the front office for someone to come out, the Escalade did not leave the hotel as expected. It was found a few minutes later, parked adjacent to the Explorer. The duffle bags were then moved from the passenger area to the rear of the Escalade, and the individuals spoke briefly before climbing into the Escalade and Explorer. But before leaving, Flores and Starks stepped out of the Escalade and transferred the heavy-looking duffle bags to the Tahoe. Agent Hardcastle testified that he believed that the activities they observed represented an ongoing drug transaction and that he had just witnessed a transfer of drugs or money to the Tahoe for someone else to retrieve. 28 Although each of the observations might individually have an innocent explanation, taking the circumstances together and giving due weight to the reasonable inferences drawn by the agents based on their experience, we are satisfied that the totality of circumstances provided an objective and particularized basis to believe the Escalade and its occupants were engaged in an illicit drug transaction. Accordingly, there was reasonable suspicion to support the request for an investigative stop of the Escalade. 1
29 The second part of the Terry inquiry examines whether the stop was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place. Terry, 392 U.S. at 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868. [A]n investigative detention must be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop. Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 500, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983). The investigative means used should also be the least intrusive means reasonably available to verify or dispel the officer's suspicions in a short period of time. Id. The Supreme Court has rejected a rigid time limitation on the lawfulness of a Terry stop, and emphasized the need to consider the law enforcement purposes to be served by the stop as well as the time reasonably needed to effectuate those purposes. United States v. Sharpe, 470 U.S. 675, 685, 105 S.Ct. 1568, 84 L.Ed.2d 605 (1985). To assess whether a detention was too long to be justified as an investigative stop, courts should examine whether the police diligently pursued a means of investigation that was likely to confirm or dispel their suspicions quickly, during which time it was necessary to detain the defendant. Id. at 686, 105 S.Ct. 1568. 30 At the scene of the stop, Officer Johnson obtained identification from the occupants of the Escalade and within 15 minutes of the stop had issued the warning citation and obtained consent to search the Escalade. Perez does not challenge the validity of his consent; and neither Perez nor Rhodes argues that the consensual search unlawfully extended the duration of the stop. See Erwin, 155 F.3d at 823; United States v. Burton, 334 F.3d 514, 517-18 (6th Cir.2003). Rather, the question presented by both Perez and Rhodes is whether the investigative detention, assuming it was initially supported by reasonable suspicion, became constitutionally unreasonable when it continued after the consensual searches were completed. Once officers use all of the appropriate means available to them to allay their concerns of criminal activity, they may not further detain a suspect absent probable cause. United States v. Heath, 259 F.3d 522, 530 (6th Cir.2001). 31 Specifically, defendants contend that the failure of the first drug dog to alert on the Tahoe served to completely dispel the reasonable suspicion such that they could not be detained after completion of the consensual searches absent a showing of probable cause. Although not called to this court's attention by the parties, resolution of this issue merits some discussion of the recent decision in United States v. Davis, 430 F.3d 345 (6th Cir.2005). There, the majority concluded that law enforcement had reasonable suspicion to believe Davis's vehicle contained drugs and that it was constitutionally reasonable to detain the vehicle for 30 minutes while a drug detection dog was brought to the scene to confirm or dispel that suspicion. When that drug-sniffing dog failed to alert to the presence of drugs, however, the court found the suspicions that justified the stop were dispelled. A second dog was called and positively alerted to the vehicle an hour later. The subsequent search uncovered no drugs but did reveal more than $700,000 in cash, some of which was contained in large Tide detergent boxes. Pointing specifically to evidence of the dog's training and high success rate at accurately identifying the presence of drugs, the court concluded that there were no grounds for the police to continue to believe that the vehicle contained narcotics after the dog failed to alert. Id. at 356. Given that the police had no reason to continue to suspect that Davis possessed narcotics, delaying Davis's vehicle an additional hour in order to permit a second examination of the vehicle by another drug sniffing dog was unreasonable. The use of the second dog and the continued detention of Davis's vehicle served no investigatory purpose. Id. 32 There was evidence in this case, found by the district court to be convincing, that the agents knew how long the duffle bags had been in the Tahoe and had reason to believe that the first dog failed to alert because the bags had not been in the Tahoe long enough for the odor to escape. Emphasizing this evidence and that the first dog also alerted on a second pass around the Tahoe, the district court concluded that calling a second drug detection dog was a reasonable investigative technique under the circumstances. In other words, under these circumstances, the failure of the first dog to alert to the Tahoe did not dispel reasonable suspicion that drugs would be found in the Tahoe and use of a second drug detection dog served a reasonable investigatory purpose. Moreover, unlike in Davis, when the first dog failed to alert to the Tahoe, law enforcement was still diligently pursuing other lines of investigation likely to confirm or dispel the suspicion that Perez and Rhodes had or were engaged in a drug transaction. 33 The record supports the district court's finding that law enforcement was engaged in continuous activity aimed at confirming or dispelling the reasonable suspicion that the transfer of the duffle bags to the Tahoe was part of a drug transaction. About the time that Perez consented to the search of the Escalade, the first drug dog failed to alert, a second drug dog was called, and efforts were underway to obtain hotel records and gain access to the hotel rooms. By 12:30 p.m., the investigation of the Escalade and Explorer had concluded without uncovering contraband or other evidence of illegal activity. The administrative subpoena was faxed to the hotel at 12:33 p.m. and, at some point before the second drug dog arrived, Room 1024 was searched. Turbo, the second drug detection dog, arrived about 1:00 p.m., was taken around the Tahoe at about 1:30 p.m., and positively alerted to the presence of drugs. As a result, the continued detention of the defendants for the hour between the completion of the consensual search of the Escalade and Explorer and the second dog's alert to the Tahoe did not impermissibly extend the scope of the Terry stop. 34 Even if we were to agree with defendants that the rest of the investigatory steps had been exhausted before the second drug dog alerted to the Tahoe, unreasonably extending the detention, the exclusionary rule only requires suppression of evidence that is the fruit of the unlawful detention. United States v. Fullerton, 187 F.3d 587, 591 (6th Cir.1999) (statements must be made after the detention became illegal in order to be fruit of the unlawful detention). Statements and evidence obtained during the initial stop or as a result of the consensual searches would not be implicated. The only evidence defendants specifically identify as having been illegally obtained, aside from the evidence obtained from the Tahoe, is the statement by Rhodes admitting that the Tahoe belonged to him. The record indicates, however, that this statement was elicited in the context of the detention resulting from Perez's unchallenged consent to search the Escalade. Agent Bradford, who elicited the statement, went to assist at the traffic stop, questioned the occupants, and provided names to the agent preparing the administrative subpoena. Bradford was interested in finding the keyless entry device Hardcastle had seen, and learned that there was one in the Escalade. Rhodes was questioned for a few minutes before he acknowledged that the device and the Tahoe were his. At about 12:30 p.m., Bradford attempted to gain consent to search the Tahoe from Rhodes. Whether the admission was made during or at the conclusion of the consensual search of the Escalade, it cannot be said to have been fruit of the allegedly unlawful extension of the detention. This brings us to the evidence that is the central focus of the defendants' appeals; the cocaine seized from the Tahoe.