{"id":5120,"date":"2011-03-31T23:25:18","date_gmt":"2011-01-25T00:02:36","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-24T17:36:01","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=5120","title":{"rendered":"CA8: District court’s finding of fact was clearly erroneous because it contradicted the videotape, the only real evidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Eighth Circuit finds the District Court’s finding of reasonable suspicion for a traffic violation to be clearly erroneous and contradicted by the videotape of the stop. The defendants’ car exited a Nebraska freeway to avoid a ruse checkpoint. United States v. Prokupek<\/a>, 632 F.3d 460 (8th Cir. 2011):<\/p>\n

The district court\u2019s factual finding that \u201cProkupek failed to signal his turn before turning from the exit ramp on to the county road\u201d is supported only by the court\u2019s determination that Trooper Estwick\u2019s testimony at the suppression hearing to that effect was credible. Because Trooper Estwick\u2019s testimony at the hearing is so clearly and affirmatively contradicted by his own statement at the time of the events, in the absence of any explanation for this contradiction that is supported by the record, we conclude that Trooper Estwick\u2019s after-the-fact testimony at the suppression hearing is \u201cimplausible on its face,\u201d Anderson<\/a>, 470 U.S. at 575, and we are left with the \u201cfirm and definite conviction that a mistake has been made,\u201d United States v. Pickar<\/a>, 616 F.3d 821, 827 (8th Cir. 2010) (quoting United States v. Hines<\/a>, 387 F.3d 690, 694 (8th Cir. 2004)). We therefore hold that the district court\u2019s finding that Prokupek failed to signal the turn on to the county road is clearly erroneous. Cf. United States v. Streater<\/a>, 70 F.3d 1314, 1321 (D.C. Cir. 1995) (\u201cWe conclude that the district court clearly erred in crediting [the witness\u2019s] testimony … when [the witness\u2019s] documented contemporaneous statements show the contrary.\u201d).<\/p>\n

The Government proffers no alternative justification for the traffic stop. Therefore, the stop violated the Fourth Amendment, see Prouse<\/a>, 440 U.S. at 653, and the drugs and drug paraphernalia that eventually were seized are tainted fruit of this violation and must be suppressed, see Wong Sun v. United States<\/a>, 371 U.S. 471, 488 (1963). Accordingly, we reverse the district court\u2019s denial of the motions to suppress ….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Note: The most telling part of this case is the obvious perversion of the facts by the District Court to achieve the result it wanted; keeping the convictions intact.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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