CA1: RS was still reasonable, albeit on a mistaken understanding of the facts

Defendant’s stop by the police was with reasonable suspicion, albeit mistaken, that defendant was involved in a homicide. The officers were warned at shift change of trouble brewing at the subject address, and then they got trouble calls from there. Defendant was seen on the street leaving and was stopped. United States v. Pontoo, 666 F.3d 20 (1st Cir. 2011)*:

Given this factual mosaic, we think that the district court supportably determined that Officer Maillet’s stop of the appellant was accompanied by a reasonable suspicion that a crime (murder) may have been committed, that Austin may have committed it, and that the appellant was Austin. A reasonably prudent police officer standing in Maillet’s shoes and knowing what Maillet knew would certainly have harbored such suspicions.

To be sure, this suspicion was predicated on two mistaken conclusions: that Officer Michaud had said “the suspect” rather than “a subject” and that the appellant was Austin. The district court found, at least implicitly, that these mistakes were objectively reasonable and made in good faith. This finding was not clearly erroneous. See, e.g., United States v. Lang, 81 F.3d 955, 965-66 (10th Cir. 1996).