Officer’s questions can be unrelated to the purpose of the stop

Officer’s questions can be unrelated to the purpose of the stop, as long as it was justified at its inception. United States v. Swan, 259 Fed. Appx. 656 (5th Cir. 2007) (unpublished):

The second prong of the Terry test is satisfied if the officer’s actions after making a legitimate traffic stop were reasonably related to either the circumstances that justified the stop or to dispelling reasonable suspicion developed during the stop. A Terry “‘detention must be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop,'” but if further reasonable suspicion emerges during the stop and is supported by articulable facts, detention may continue until the new reasonable suspicion has been dispelled or confirmed. During this brief period of detention, the officer may examine the driver’s license and vehicle registration, run a computer check on the driver and the vehicle, and question the driver about a wide range of matters, including those unrelated to the purpose of the traffic stop. There is no specific prohibition on the scope of permissible questioning “so long as the overall detention is justified by reasonable suspicion.” Moreover, this court has eschewed any particularized limitations on the permissible investigative tools that may be utilized in connection with a Terry stop, holding that the relevant inquiry is “‘whether the police diligently pursued a means of investigation that was likely to confirm or dispel their suspicions quickly.'”

Stop became consensual after the defendant’s papers were returned, and she validly consented after that. United States v. Cardwell, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92130 (D. Utah December 14, 2007).* (Comment: Consent on the side of the highway with two armed officers is a fiction.)

The affidavit for search warrant was 22 pages long, and it incorporated by reference a 121 page wiretap affidavit, and it provided a substantial basis for probable cause for the search of defendant’s property. United States v. Morris, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92162 (E.D. Pa. December 14, 2007).* (Comment: Picking apart that much information for a probable cause challenge seems virtually pointless. It may be good for an overview of the case, but a PC challenge is just not going to win under the “soft standard” of Gates.) In the co-defendant’s case, United States v. Thompson, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92163 (E.D. Pa. December 14, 2007), adopting the other order by reference, the court also held that the issuance of a no-knock warrant was of no consequence since the officers knocked. The co-defendant lacked standing to challenge the search of the car in the case since it was not his.