N.D.Ga.: Germany’s search of defs’ apartment there was independent of U.S. investigation

German investigators were independently investigating defendants for money laundering, and the FBI was informed because they were Americans. The German authorities coordinated with the U.S. authorities, and a search of the defendants’ German property was conducted as they were being indicted in the U.S. Still, the Germans were not acting as agents of the U.S. Government. They had their own investigation. The fact they deferred to the U.S. to prosecute doesn’t make them agents. United States v. Cote, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 179113 (N.D. Ga. November 7, 2014).

The district court credited the officer that he could smell marijuana coming from defendant’s car after he observed defendant and others going to the car a couple of times in a half hour and it was apparent to him that they were smoking marijuana, which is why he finally approached them. The search of the car was thus based on the automobile exception, and the gun found was admissible. United States v. Smith, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 44 (11th Cir. January 5, 2015).*