Court Opinion

ID: 9465819
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 00:56:46.272832+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:23.516647
License: Public Domain

LUMBARD, Circuit Judge
(concurring):
Although I agree that the conviction should be affirmed and with much of my brothers’ opinion, I write separately to state my view that Price’s consent was not iieces-sary to validate the search of his bag since by that time the DEA agents had probable cause to act. The reasonable suspicion which the majority has found existed on the basis of Price’s behavior at and as he left the airport surely matured into probable cause when Price, in response to the agents’ inquiry, stated that he had absolutely no knowledge of the bag for which he had shown such solicitous care.
Viewed in the context of his behavior at the airport, Price’s professed ignorance of the bag would have appeared to any reasonable person as a transparent attempt at evasion. Considering that weight must also be given to the DEA agents years of experience at observing and uncovering drug couriers, the circumstances of Price’s behavior provided ample justification for the agents’ search of his bag. ■