Court Opinion

ID: 9402547
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-06-16 00:01:02.263946+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:00.747667
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-10872        Document: 00516789093             Page: 1      Date Filed: 06/15/2023

             United States Court of Appeals
                  for the Fifth Circuit
                                     ____________
                                                                               United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                        Fifth Circuit
                                      No. 22-10872
                                    Summary Calendar                                  FILED
                                    ____________                                  June 15, 2023
                                                                                 Lyle W. Cayce
   United States of America,                                                          Clerk

                                                                      Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                            versus

   Justin Michael Boatright,

                                              Defendant—Appellant.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                         for the Northern District of Texas
                               USDC No. 1:21-CR-70-1
                     ______________________________

   Before Stewart, Duncan, and Wilson, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
         Justin Michael Boatright was convicted of possession with intent to
   distribute 50 or more grams of actual methamphetamine, and the district
   court sentenced him to 188 months of imprisonment. Appealing only the
   denial of his motion to suppress evidence seized following the investigatory
   stop of his vehicle, Boatright argues that the officers lacked reasonable

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 22-10872      Document: 00516789093          Page: 2   Date Filed: 06/15/2023

                                    No. 22-10872

   suspicion to justify that stop based on a tip from a confidential source (CS)
   and officers’ subsequent surveillance. We review the district court’s legal
   conclusions de novo, including the court’s ultimate finding that reasonable
   suspicion existed for the stop, and we review its factual findings for clear
   error. United States v. Rodriguez, 564 F.3d 735, 740 (5th Cir. 2009). We view
   the evidence in the light most favorable to the Government as the prevailing
   party. See id.
          For the reasons articulated by the district court, the officers had
   probable cause to stop Boatright’s vehicle under the totality of the
   circumstances, which included evidence regarding the CS’s credibility and
   reliability, the specificity of the tip regarding the imminent drug transaction
   with Boatright, and the accurate prediction of Boatright’s future actions as
   corroborated by surveillance. See United States v. Alvarez, 40 F.4th 339, 345
   (5th Cir. 2022); United States v. Powell, 732 F.3d 361, 369-71, 373 (5th Cir.
   2013); United States v. Zamora, 661 F.3d 200, 207 (5th Cir. 2011); United
   States v. Ashley, 569 F.2d 975, 982 (5th Cir. 1978). We are not persuaded by
   Boatright’s arguments regarding purported deficiencies in that evidence or
   by his comparison to the distinguishable facts in United States v. Roch, 5 F.3d
   894 (5th Cir. 1993).
          AFFIRMED.

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