Court Opinion

ID: 9480878
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:01:32.494888+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:58.638410
License: Public Domain

JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent and would affirm the judgment of the district court granting Condelee’s motion to suppress.
I agree with most of the court’s analysis today and differ only as to whether Agent Hicks had a reasonable, articulable suspicion to support the Terry stop, which occurred when he showed Condelee his badge for the second time. At that point the facts known to Hicks that would support such a stop were: (1) the tip that Los Angeles street gangs were using “sharply *1211dressed black female couriers,” (2) that Los Angeles was a source city, and that the early flight from Los Angeles had been used by couriers in the past, and (3) that Condelee’s ticket had been purchased for cash.
On the other hand, other facts were contrary to a reasonable suspicion. These included: (1) that although she purchased it with cash, Condelee bought her ticket from a travel agency in her own name several days before the flight, and (2) that she carried identification in her real name.
Other facts are, to me, inconclusive. A stylishly dressed black female alighting from a plane with a garment bag and purse, and walking directly to the exit door looking straight ahead, is not sufficient to raise suspicion, even when considered in the context of those facts above that might support some suspicion. That Condelee became very nervous during the consensual encounter, and that her purse made a loud thud when she placed it on the trash receptacle, are also not unexpected. The magistrate found that Condelee placed her purse on the trash receptacle and tilted it toward her body while she reached inside to obtain her driver’s license, and that she did so again when returning the license to her purse. Agent Hicks testified that she appeared to be deliberately attempting to hide the contents of her purse from him. The magistrate concluded that it would be more awkward and unnatural to attempt to remove a driver’s license from a waist-high purse without tilting it than to do so in the manner followed by Condelee. I do not find it unusual that an individual, when asked for a driver’s license, produces it in a manner that keeps the contents of a purse or wallet from the view of others. The magistrate’s interpretation of the loud thud was evidently the product of some knowledge of the contents of women’s purses. Our appellate function forbids us from finding facts, and I can only conclude that his views are not clearly erroneous.
We have had many cases exploring the outer limits of airport stops and searches, and I believe the facts of this case are just beyond those limits. In United States v. White, 890 F.2d 1413 (8th Cir.1989) (Magill, J. concurring), cert. den., — U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 77, 112 L.Ed.2d 50 (1990), this court held that there was no reasonable, articula-ble suspicion for a Terry stop on facts somewhat similar to those before us now. White placed particular reliance on Reid v. Georgia, 448 U.S. 438, 100 S.Ct. 2752, 65 L.Ed.2d 890 (1980), in which the individual’s nervousness when talking to the officer was discussed, and the circumstances for the most part were held to “ ‘describe a very large category of presumably innocent travelers.'" See 890 F.2d at 1417 (quoting Reid, 448 U.S. at 441, 100 S.Ct. at 2754).
Agent Hicks had no advance information of the specific identity or description of the alleged courier, other than the more general statement that the courier might be a “sharply dressed black female,” and no specific information that the courier would be on this particular flight. The DEA agents did not receive any specific tip giving an indication of definite identity, such as occurred in both United States v. Drinkard, 900 F.2d 140, 141 (8th Cir.1990) (confidential informant provided DEA officials with the date of arrival, flight information and a description of the defendant), and United States v. Nunley, 873 F.2d 182 (8th Cir.1989). Nunley involved a specific tip as to the flight on which the defendant would arrive, as well as the fact that she had purchased her ticket for cash immediately before departure, and that she carried no luggage at all. Condelee’s situation did not involve any of these factors. Nor was there a continuation of a consensual encounter that resulted in discovery of incriminating objects, see United States v. Campbell, 843 F.2d 1089, 1091 (8th Cir.1988) (a completely consensual search produced a plastic bag containing cocaine), or a combination of factors leading to an artic-ulable suspicion, id. at 1093 (“the facts collectively [must] establish reasonable suspicion”).
The combination of factors for Agent Hicks to consider in this case was at best ambiguous and was far beyond any pattern we have found to be sufficient in the past. I believe that it was simply not enough and *1212that the ruling of the district court suppressing this evidence should be affirmed.