CA9: PC for arrest of ptf for interfering with a LEO arresting another

There was probable cause to arrest plaintiff, a member of Bikers for Christ, for interfering with a law enforcement officer when the officer was attempting to write a ticket for another biker. Thus, there was no Fourth Amendment violation. Stubbs v. Las Vegas Metro. Police Dep’t, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 34532 (9th Cir. Nov. 20, 2019)*:

Though Stubbs does not couch his argument in these terms, we take his position to be that he could not have possessed the requisite mens rea to commit a violation of the statute because he intended to act as Desmairas’s attorney—not to interfere with the officers’ discharge of official duties. Stubbs points to no case, and we are aware of none, holding that the right to counsel authorizes an attorney to: (1) stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his client; (2) during a traffic stop; (3) while armed with a firearm; and (4) refuse repeated, reasonable law enforcement requests to step aside. We have serious doubts that the right to counsel encompasses such conduct. See, e.g., Colten, 407 U.S. at 109 (“The State has a legitimate interest in enforcing its traffic laws and its officers were entitled to enforce them free from possible interference or interruption from bystanders, even those claiming a third-party interest in the transaction.”). But we need not resolve this question because, whatever Stubbs’s motive might have been, the facts and circumstances established by the record were sufficient to warrant a prudent officer’s belief that he was willfully—that is, intentionally—hindering, delaying, or obstructing Lt. Yatomi in the lawful discharge of her duties by refusing to comply with her orders to step away during the pendency of the traffic stop. See Hunter, 502 U.S. at 228.

The opinion never mentions whether plaintiff was an attorney.

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