Court Opinion

ID: 21062
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2010-04-25 07:40:42+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:55:18.565700
License: Public Domain

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
                            ____________________

                                No. 99-50728
                              Summary Calendar
                            ____________________

                        UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                                                     Plaintiff-Appellee,
                                   versus

                         ISRAEL BRITO-RODRIGUEZ,

                                                    Defendant-Appellant.

_________________________________________________________________

           Appeal from the United States District Court
                for the Western District of Texas
                         (P-99-CR-78-ALL)
_________________________________________________________________
                            May 16, 2000

Before SMITH, BARKSDALE, and PARKER, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:*

     Israel    Brito-Rodriguez     (Brito),    convicted   of   possessing

firearms while an alien illegally in the United States, contests

the denial of his motion to suppress evidence found in the vehicle

in which he and his wife were riding when stopped by Border Patrol

Agents.

     Brito     does   not    challenge   the   legality    of   the   stop.

Furthermore, Brito does not challenge the court’s holding that the

search of the vehicle was valid as incident to his lawful arrest.

See New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 462-63 (1981).

     *
      Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the Court has determined that
this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except
under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4.
     Instead,   Brito   claims   no   evidence    supported   the   Agents

reasonably believed his wife had authority to consent to the search

of the vehicle.   However, one of the Agents testified Mrs. Brito

told him “it was her mother’s vehicle”, which “had been given to

her care”.   And, Mrs. Brito alone had access to, and control over,

it, Brito having already been arrested for being an illegal alien

and placed in another Agent’s vehicle.           Because Mrs. Brito was

authorized to consent to the search, the court did not err by

overruling Brito’s suppression motion. See, e.g., United States v.

Koehler, 790 F.2d 1256, 1259-60 (5th Cir. 1986).

                                                              AFFIRMED

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