{"id":2756,"date":"2008-12-12T08:34:44","date_gmt":"2008-12-10T06:16:05","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-12-12T06:22:53","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=2756","title":{"rendered":"D.Utah: No RS; every highway in Utah is now a drug pipleline, based on arguments in prior cases"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reasonable suspicion for continued detention in a traffic stop was not present, but it became consensual. What is important here is what was not<\/em> reasonable suspicion that was quickly dispatched by the court. United States v. Morales, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99043 (D. Utah December 8, 2008):<\/p>\n

The government points to the following facts to support Sergeant Nixon’s claim of reasonable suspicion: (1) Mr. Morales’ extreme nervousness from the inception of the stop to the end; (2) Defendants had only stayed one night in California before traveling back to Michigan, yet they had “quite a bit of luggage;” (3) the person to whom the vehicle was registered was not present; (4) the vehicle was already registered and licensed in the state of Michigan (carrying a Michigan license plate), although it had been purchased in California just two days before; and (5) the Defendants were traveling on a known drug pipeline.<\/p>\n

The facts and circumstances of this case, however, when taken in their totality, “describe a very large category of presumably innocent travelers, who would be subject to virtually random seizures were the Court to conclude that as little foundation as there was in this case could justify a seizure.” Reid v. Georgia<\/a>, 448 U.S. 438, 441, 100 S. Ct. 2752, 65 L. Ed. 2d 890 (1980). Mr. Morales’ nervousness describes most persons when stopped by the police. And although told that “probably” only a warning will be issued, the nervousness will often not subside until the warning is actually in hand. With regard to the luggage, Defendants were traveling across the country, which is at best a three to four day trip, in addition to the one to two days already spent in California. Furthermore, it was Christmas time, and much of the baggage in the Defendants’ vehicle appeared to be shopping bags (perhaps Christmas gifts).FN4<\/p>\n

4 It is not lost on the court that time and time again officers cite as a factor supporting their reasonable suspicion of criminal activity the fact that very little luggage was present in the car when the defendant was allegedly traveling a long distance. Apparently the luggage factor cuts both ways.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The government also finds support for Sergeant Nixon’s claim of reasonable suspicion in the fact that the vehicle was properly registered on the date of purchase. But extended detentions must be justified by a reasonable articulable suspicion of criminal activity, not lawful behavior. Citizens should be encouraged to properly register their vehicles, not penalized for it. One can only imagine the suspicions that would have arisen and been articulated by Sergeant Nixon had Elaine Bailey not transferred ownership of the vehicle to her name prior to having her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend drive it back to Michigan.<\/p>\n

With regard to traveling on a drug pipeline, Sergeant Nixon testified that virtually every highway in Utah is considered a drug pipeline. Therefore, this is a non-factor.<\/p>\n

The facts relied on by Sergeant Nixon to find reasonable suspicion of criminal activity in this case, encompass far too much innocent behavior. Accordingly, the court finds the evidence insufficient to justify Defendants’ continued detention based on reasonable suspicion. Therefore, in order for Mr. Morales’ continued detention to be lawful, it must have become a “consensual encounter.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

b2evALnk.b2WPAutP Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"pingsdone","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}