D.Nev.: When a Mexican national was stopped, the time for a call to EPIC could be included in the reasonable length of stop

A call to the El Paso Intelligence Center about defendant who produced a Mexican passport was reasonably included in the length of the stop. Defendant was noticeably nervous, gave conflicting travel plans, and the license plate did not match the vehicle, and all this was reasonable suspicion. Defendant also consented to a search of the car in writing, the court noting the significance that he asked what the form meant about searching luggage. United States v. Diaz-Flores, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118354 (D.Nev. August 25, 2015).

Impounding defendant’s vehicle was reasonable. Defendant stopped in a legal parking space, but it was metered, there was no evidence that defendant could pay the meter fee, and no one was with defendant to pay the fee or drive the car, so the car either had to be towed or left at the scene. Thus, the inventory search of the vehicle was valid. In addition, the warrantless search of the vehicle was constitutional because the officer, upon smelling marijuana, had probable cause to believe the vehicle contained drugs. State v. Jackson, 2015-Ohio-3607, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 3517 (2d Dist. September 4, 2015).*