Opinion ID: 729772
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: McDonald's Abandonment Of The Bags

Text: 22 The district court also found that McDonald abandoned the bags when she denied ownership both when Detective Cotton directly asked her whether she owned the suspect bags and collectively asked all the bus passengers if anyone owned the luggage in question. McDonald specifically told Cotton that the bags were not hers. The district court determined McDonald's actions constituted an abandonment of the luggage, giving Detective Cotton the right to open the abandoned bags and inspect their contents. We examine this finding for clear error. United States v. James, 40 F.3d 850, 874 (7th Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 115 S. Ct. 948 (1995), cert. denied, 115 S. Ct. 1160 (1995), cert. granted and judgment vacated, 116 S. Ct. 664 (1995). 23 Abandoned property is not subject to Fourth Amendment protection. Abel v. United States, 362 U.S. 217, 241 (1960); Bond v. United States, 77 F.3d 1009, 1013 (7th Cir. 1996). We determine whether one has abandoned property by the words spoken, acts done, and other objective facts [to determine whether she] voluntarily discarded, left behind, or otherwise relinquished [her] interest in the property in question. Bond, 77 F.3d at 1013 (quoting United States v. Ramos, 12 F.3d 1019, 1022 (11th Cir. 1994) (citations omitted) (emphasis in original)); see also Rem, 984 F.2d at 810. 24 On appeal, McDonald does not contest that the totality of the circumstances established that in fact she had abandoned the bags. Rather, McDonald argues that her abandonment was not valid because it resulted from an illegal search (i.e. the officers' initial touching of the bags), and from the confining atmosphere created on the bus by the presence of three police officers. 11 25 An abandonment that results from police misconduct is not valid. United States v. Lewis, 921 F.2d 1294, 1302 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (citing 1 Wayne R. LaFave, Search and Seizure sec. 2.6(b), at 471-74 (2d ed. 1987)). In examining the voluntariness of a person's response to a police officer's inquiry, a court should inquire as to whether a reasonable person (i.e. a person who was not carrying contraband) would feel free to refuse to comply with the officer's request. See Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 437-38 (1991) (rejecting the defendant's argument that no reasonable person would freely consent to the search of luggage that he or she knew contained drugs because the  'reasonable person' test presupposes an innocent person); Rem, 984 F.2d at 812 (It is irrelevant that [the defendant] may have made an unwise tactical decision . . . based upon his fear that the police might have legal grounds for searching the suitcase or arresting him . . . .). Moreover, [a]n abandonment that occurs in response to proper police activity has not been coerced in violation of the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Miller, 974 F.2d 953, 958 (8th Cir. 1992). 26 McDonald argues that she was coerced into abandoning the bags because the police officers had unlawfully inspected the exterior of her luggage before asking whether the luggage was hers. However, we have held that the police action, physically touching the bags, was not a search because McDonald had no reasonable expectation that her luggage would not be handled by others. Furthermore, McDonald was unaware that the officers had conducted any type of investigation of the contents of the luggage for she was neither on the bus nor in near proximity to the bus when the officers touched the bags. From McDonald's perspective, nothing out of the ordinary occurred until after she returned to her seat on the bus. Shortly thereafter, a plain clothes officer (Detective Cotton) approached her and asked her if the bags in question were hers. The record is barren of any evidence that McDonald knew that the officers had been on the bus during the layover or that anyone had touched her baggage. However, even if McDonald had seen the officers board the bus during the layover in Indianapolis, she had no reason to believe or even suspect that they were law enforcement officers for they were dressed in civilian clothes. Thus, the police inspection of the exterior of the luggage could not have caused McDonald to disclaim ownership of the bags and thus abandon them for, at the time the officers asked her if the bags were hers, she had no knowledge of the officers touching or feeling the bags. See Miller, 974 F.2d at 958. 27 In addition, there was nothing coercive about the manner in which McDonald was questioned. The law defining what constitutes a seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment is instructive in this regard. Law enforcement authorities routinely approach citizens in public places and ask questions that may potentially elicit incriminating responses. Such encounters are permitted under the Fourth Amendment as long as they are consensual in nature. See Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 497-98 (1983) (plurality); United States v. Thomas, 87 F.3d 909, 911 (7th Cir. 1996); United States v. High, 921 F.2d 112, 115 (7th Cir. 1990). In particular, law enforcement agents are entitled to board a bus and question passengers as long as those being questioned feel free to decline the officers' requests or otherwise terminate the encounter. See Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 437 (1991); see, e.g., United States v. Graham, 982 F.2d 273, 275 (9th Cir. 1992); cf. United States v. Kim, 27 F.3d 947, 952 (3d Cir. 1994) (holding that officer's questioning of defendant on train was consensual). When directly asked if she owned the bags, McDonald on two separate occasions denied ownership. Thereafter, neither McDonald nor the other passengers, when asked collectively four times, claimed ownership of the bags. Detective Cotton gave testimony during the suppression hearing, unrebutted at the time and unchallenged on appeal, that she did not raise her voice when she addressed McDonald directly, and raised it only so that all on the bus could hear when she addressed the passengers collectively. Cotton stated that she and the other two officers were not in police uniforms, but rather were attired in plain clothes, and that although each of them carried weapons, the firearms were concealed and not displayed during the course of the investigation. Detective Cotton stated that her two partners were in the back of the bus and not near McDonald, who was sitting near the front of the bus. Thus, there is no evidence that the officers talked to any of the passengers in anything but a normal conversational tone nor is there any evidence that any of the officers acted in a threatening manner. Under these circumstances, McDonald nevertheless denied ownership five times while on the bus and once after she had exited the vehicle with Detective Cotton. In contrast to McDonald's assertion, there is nothing in the record to demonstrate that the officers' actions in any way coerced the defendant into abandoning her luggage. 28 McDonald's situation is similar to that of the defendant in Bostick, 501 U.S. 429. In that case, the defendant on a bus allowed police officers to search his bag, which contained cocaine. The defendant argued that his consent was not voluntarily given because under the circumstances he felt compelled to allow the search. The defendant, in support of his argument, asserted that no reasonable person would allow police officers to search a bag he knew contained illegal drugs. The Supreme Court, however, declared that the proper inquiry was not whether a drug courier could reasonably be expected to refuse a police officer's request to search his bags, but whether an innocent person would feel free to refuse the request under the circumstances. Id. at 438. 29 The abandonment issue in the instant case is analogous to the consent issue in Bostick. The main reason McDonald denied owning the bags was that she was well aware that they contained drugs. This fact would obviously not enter into an innocent person's calculation of whether to affirm or deny ownership of her luggage. Absent the presence of the drugs or other contraband, it is hard to believe that a reasonable person would deny ownership of her luggage merely because the inquiry was made by a police officer aboard a bus. 30 We hold that the trial court did not clearly err in finding that McDonald had abandoned her luggage and thus the denial of her motion to suppress was not error. 31 AFFIRMED. 32