Court Opinion

ID: 9481630
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:26:30.922667+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:28.340538
License: Public Domain

LAY, Chief Judge, concurring.
I concur. Although I think the issue close based on the majority opinion in United States v. McKines, 933 F.2d 1412, 1423 (8th Cir.1991) (en banc), I am convinced that the majority of this court would hold that the officers’ conduct would not make a reasonable person feel that he or she was not free to leave. I personally believe that the law is that when an officer cannot formulate a reasonable articulable suspicion through consensual questions but nevertheless requests a search of the per*674son or of luggage, a reasonable person would not feel free to do anything other than to acquiesce in that request. An individual who consents to such a search submits and has been legally seized. It defies common sense and human experience to urge that under those circumstances a reasonable person would feel he or she is still free to leave. McKines, however, holds otherwise. Until the Supreme Court provides further clarification, I am, of course, bound by this court’s precedent. In addition, I believe there was less of a show of authority in this case than in McKines because Dennis, unlike McKines, was not the focus of a drug investigation. Furthermore, Dennis was not moved to an enclosed area, with egress blocked by another officer. For these reasons, I concur in the panel’s opinion.