Opinion ID: 767340
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Bayless's Arrest and the Search of Her Car

Text: 6 The story begins on April 21, 1995, the day of Bayless's arrest. The parties agree that the arresting police officers, Officer Carroll and Sergeant Bentley, were patrolling the Washington Heights area of Manhattan in an unmarked police car when they observed Bayless, in a car with Michigan license plates, double-parked on 176th Street, near St. Nicholas Avenue. While Bayless was stopped, the officers saw four men load two heavy duffel bags into the trunk of her car. Almost immediately, the men stepped away from the car, and Bayless drove off alone. The officers followed Bayless for about two blocks, during which time she did not drive erratically or commit any traffic violations. They nevertheless pulled her over. After discovering that the car was a rental car and that Bayless was not an authorized driver, the officers asked her about the bags that had been placed in her trunk. When Bayless denied knowledge of the bags, they asked her for the keys, opened the trunk, and discovered that the bags contained a large quantity of cocaine, along with some heroin. (The exact amount of each was later determined to be thirty-four kilograms of cocaine and two kilograms of heroin.) 7 Bayless was arrested and taken to the 33rd Precinct, where the case was turned over to federal authorities. After being read her Miranda rights, Bayless was interviewed by federal agents and confessed to acting as a drug courier for her son, who sold drugs in the Detroit area. She then repeated her statement on videotape. On June 21, 1995, Bayless was indicted by a grand jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She was charged with possession of cocaine and heroin with intent to distribute, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2 (1994) and 21 U.S.C. 812, 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(A) (1994), and with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin and possess them with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 846 (1994). Her case was assigned to Judge Baer.