Court Opinion

ID: 9461129
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:06:37.972394+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:54.382769
License: Public Domain

ALFRED T. GOODWIN, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I would affirm. I agree that the agents could have obtained an arrest warrant as early as six days before they arrested Watson, but it by no means follows that the arrest without a warrant was not lawful. I know of no case which holds that officers must make an arrest the moment they come into possession of enough evidence to cause a magistrate to issue a warrant. United States v. Leon, 460 F.2d 299, 300 (9th Cir. 1972). There are many times when good law enforcement commends further investigation. At the time of Watson’s arrest, a pre-arranged signal gave the officers new knowledge that Watson was then in possession of additional stolen credit cards. This information alone would have justified a warrantless arrest at the time it was made.
Given a lawful arrest, the only basis Watson urged in the trial court for his motion to suppress the evidence collapses. I do not join in the majority’s discussion of Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973), as it is not responsive to any issue raised below or in the briefs and arguments on appeal.