Court Opinion

ID: 9800636
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 08:27:57.392209+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:46:00.244799
License: Public Domain

WATFORD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I would agree with the majority that the officers lacked reasonable suspicion if we didn’t have the phone call. But the phone call makes this an easy case.
Deputy Weiss goes to Burton’s house and leaves his card with Burton’s wife, asking that she have Burton call him when Burton returned home. At least an hour passes. Then, officers watching Burton’s house see a white sedan pull up and park in the driveway. A man gets out and enters through the rear of the house, rather than going to the front door and knocking, as would a visitor. Within minutes, Deputy Weiss receives a call from a man identifying himself as David Burton — the obvious inference being that Burton’s wife had just relayed the message from Deputy Weiss to have Burton call when he returned home. Soon thereafter, the same man walks out of the house, gets back into the white sedan, and drives off.
We could debate whether these facts gave the officers probable cause to believe that the man driving the white sedan was David Burton. But they unquestionably establish reasonable suspicion. For that reason, I would reverse.