Court Opinion

ID: 9483847
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:32:59.796145+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:51.781585
License: Public Domain

ROSENBAUM, District Judge,
dissenting.
When the narcotics officers asked for Mr. Robinson’s consent to search his luggage, the response was an unequivocal “No.” At the moment Mr. Robinson answered “No,” something happened. Even guilty of possessing contraband, as he has been shown to be, he stood against the power of the State. When Mr. Robinson made his denial, he invoked the protections of the Fourth Amendment. As William Pitt said over 200 years ago:
The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. *915It may be frail — its roof may shake — the wind may blow through it — the storm may enter — the rain may enter — but the King of England cannot enter — all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!
The totality of the circumstances gave the investigators the right to detain Robinson’s luggage. United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696, 706, 103 S.Ct. 2637, 2644, 77 L.Ed.2d 110 (1983); United States v. Weaver, 966 F.2d 391, 394 (8th Cir.1992). But, it is not at all clear that they had the right to detain Mr. Robinson himself as an inducement to a “voluntary” consent for a search.
It can be argued that the defendant was not detained, being merely told it would take 30-40 minutes to obtain a drug sniff-dog. In the abstract, Mr. Robinson was “at liberty to ignore the police presence and go about his business.” Florida v. Bostick, — U.S. -, -, 111 S.Ct. 2382, 2387, 115 L.Ed.2d 389 (1991) (quoting Michigan v. Chesternut, 486 U.S. 567, 569, 108 S.Ct. 1975, 1977, 100 L.Ed.2d 565 (1988)). But confronted with two police officers and the impending arrival of a sniff-dog, how is he to know this? The implicit detention was inherently coercive.
I cannot find consent to search here. I dissent.