Court Opinion

ID: 9467417
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:48:14.385751+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:20.269032
License: Public Domain

TONE, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
With the exception of Part III, I join in Judge Castle’s well-reasoned opinion. As to the question addressed in Part III, I do not think we need reach the issue of whether Cruz was arrested in violation of the Fourth Amendment when he was told to sit down in the living room and not move. That *1101command may have been premised on the agents’ reasonable assumption that Cruz, who had just awakened and was clothed only in his pants, lived in the apartment and would have no desire to go out into the cold November night, and on the obvious prudence of putting him, as well as Sanchez and Sanchez’ wife, in a place where they would not interfere with the search or have an opportunity to gain access to a weapon that might be hidden in the apartment. I believe we need not rule on the arrest question, because the totality of the circumstances demonstrates that Cruz’ consent to the search of the suitcases was not voluntary in any event. The government’s theory that it was is based on testimony that Cruz was “asked” or “requested,” and not told, to open the suitcases. The phrasing of the agent’s utterance is less important, however, than the surrounding circumstances and what was concededly not said. Cruz had just been routed out of bed naked in his darkened bedroom by an agent with a flashlight and a gun. After he had been allowed to put on his pants, he had been told to sit down in the living room and not move. He was surrounded by agents who were in the process of searching the apartment. Finally, he was never informed by anyone that he was not required to open his suitcases. These events and this omission combined to give the agent’s “request” the substance of a command and Cruz’ “consent to search” the character of an involuntary submission to duress. On the ground that a voluntary consent was not given, I concur in the result reached in Part III.