Court Opinion

ID: 9463563
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:10:05.170462+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:10.308103
License: Public Domain

GEE, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur in the result and in all but Part III of the opinion. I dissent from Part III since it seems to me that, on its conditional assumption that what had gone before the search was valid, the officers had probable cause to search. And, of course, without such an assumption Part III is gratuitous.
By the time Officer Nieto dropped the tailgate and discovered the contraband, he knew a great deal: that the vehicle had come from a border area, probably uncontrolled, early in the morning; that it was in the position of “back door” in a convoy formation travelling a road frequently used to transport aliens and contraband; that the driver claimed to have no keys to the camper; that it was heavily loaded; that its windows were blacked out; and that the driver appeared extremely nervous during questioning. These factors make out probable cause. Indeed, considerably less has been held to do so in very similar circumstances, United States v. Reyna, 546 F.2d 103 [5th Cir., 1977],