S.D.Cal.: Def, a citizen of Mexico suspected of drug trafficking in his mother’s car, was lawfully arrested when he was lured to a border crossing to talk about her permanent resident status

Defendant’s mother, a citizen of Mexico who crossed regularly at Tecate, was arrested for importation of meth in her car, which she claimed was a gift from her son. Officers were looking for him and finally found him in Mexico and induced him to come to the Tecate border crossing ostensibly to talk about his mother’s work status in the U.S. When he got there, he was arrested. The government claimed first he was a material witness to his mother’s case, which the court avoids because it is a novel constitutional question. Instead, the court finds there was objective probable cause for his arrest, and the first articulated reason didn’t matter because there was probable cause. United States v. Paez-Villa, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177807 (S.D.Cal. Dec. 21, 2016).*

Defendant was driving in a high crime area at night without headlights, and that justified his stop. Officers could order him out of the car. His consent to search the car was voluntary. “The same is true of defendant’s later consent to the search of his telephone for pictures and to the taking of oral DNA swabs.” The automobile exception also applied. United States v. Moore, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177134 (D.Ore. Dec. 21, 2016).*

This entry was posted in Arrest or entry on arrest, Automobile exception, Border search. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.