KS: Columbo-“one-more-thing” routine at the end of the stop still going on in Kansas; consent valid

The Columbo-“one-more-thing” routine at the end of the stop still going on in Kansas. Consent was valid. United States v. Vargas, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27971 (D. Kan. March 5, 2014):

In this case, Kahle did not display his weapon, used a conversational tone and did not physically touch defendant. Even though Kahle did not explicitly state that defendant was free to leave, the Tenth Circuit has held that “[p]hrases like ‘thank you’ and ‘have a safe one’ signal the end of an encounter.” United States v. Ledesma, 447 F.3d 1307, 1315 (10th Cir. 2006). The facts in this case signal a consensual encounter.

Defendant further argues that the two to three second interval in which Kahle quickly returned to the Optima supports the conclusion that defendant still believed he was being detained. The Tenth Circuit rejected an identical claim in United States v. Guerrero, 472 F.3d 784, 789 (10th Cir. 2007), where the defendant claimed “that the detention continued because Deputy Rhodd turned around very shortly after returning the papers and resumed his questioning.” Id. The fact that Kahle turned around very shortly after returning the papers and resumed his questioning is not coercive.

Based upon the totality of the circumstances in the present case, the court finds that the circumstances would not have caused a reasonable person in defendant’s position to believe that he was not free to end the conversation and leave. Next, the court must consider whether defendant freely consented to a search of the Optima.