CA9: Second coordinated traffic stop after first was prolonged in violation of Rodriguez was “fruit of the poisonous tree”; cash for forfeiture suppressed

“We hold that the search of Gorman’s vehicle following the coordinated traffic stops violated the Constitution and affirm the district court’s order granting Gorman’s motion to suppress. Gorman’s first roadside detention was unreasonably prolonged in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The dog sniff and the search of Gorman’s vehicle, in turn, followed directly in an unbroken causal chain of events from that constitutional violation. As a result, the seized currency is the ‘fruit of the poisonous tree’ and was properly suppressed under the exclusionary rule. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 487-88, 83 S. Ct. 407, 9 L. Ed. 2d 441 (1963).” United States v. Gorman, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 10357 (9th Cir. June 12, 2017). (See The Recorder here; Orin Kerr in WaPo here)

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