CA5: No RS for stopping an older just licensed car on I-10

Defendant’s traffic stop was based on the fact his older vehicle had just been registered and he was driving between Houston and San Antonio. The officer found a 14 year old drug arrest. It should have been apparent that defendant was merely a person of limited means driving an older car and not a drug mule. There was no reasonable suspicion for making or continuing the stop. The record is inadequate on the question of consent. Reversed. United States v. Madrigal, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 16755 (5th Cir. September 18, 2015).

“Defendant argues that his presence in an area of expected criminal activity, standing alone, is not enough to support a reasonable, particularized suspicion that criminal activity was afoot. His argument is unpersuasive because, even absent the address of the apartment complex, there were other factors to give the Officers reasonable suspicion — Defendant matched Ms. Chaney’s description of the armed intruder, he was standing next to a vehicle that matched the color description, and he was the only person in the parking lot.” United States v. Johnson, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125037 (M.D.Fla. September 16, 2015).*