D.Minn.: Defendant’s denial he had an ID didn’t warrant searching his wallet

Just because defendant was nervous and denied having ID when it was apparent he had a wallet, a search of his wallet wasn’t justified. United States v. Garcia-Garza, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105586 (D. Minn. June 30, 2014):

At the hearing, the only evidence adduced was the following: Officers Nelson and Martin were sent to a high crime area where defendant was encountered because of a call of a suspicious person in the vicinity. Following their encounter with defendant in the parking lot, where defendant was observed taking out trash, Officer Nelson asked defendant for identification, defendant seemed “nervous” and stated that he had no identification. But Officer Nelson could plainly see that defendant had a wallet in his pocket and had a strong suspicion that the wallet would contain identification. After realizing that defendant was probably lying to him about the identification, Officer Nelson seized the wallet. This all took place before the officers determined that defendant’s name was German Valenzuela. Officer Martin ran this name through his computer system and discovered an outstanding warrant for defendant’s arrest for a ticket, and then defendant was arrested. The Government did not argue that the encounter with defendant in the parking lot prior to the retrieval of the wallet amounted to a Terry stop, nor on these facts would the Court find it was one. See e.g. Hughes, 517 F.3d at 1015-18.5. Likewise, there was no testimony that defendant agreed to hand over his wallet (having denied he had one on his person) or that the wallet was retrieved pursuant to a Terry stop pat-down for the purpose of insuring that defendant was not armed. On this basis, the Court concludes that there are no exceptions which save this warrantless retrieval of the wallet.