CA5: Being told to follow the police officer to a drug dog is not consent when defendant was under police control

After defendant was stopped, the officer told dispatch he was going to have to follow him to a checkpoint for a dog sniff. The district court erred in finding consent. The officer made it clear to the dispatcher, in defendant’s presence, that he planned to take defendant to the checkpoint “to run the dog on him,” the officer obtained defendant’s verbal consent to follow him to the checkpoint while he was in the police cruiser, defendant was in the cruiser at the officer’s direction and each time he exited the cruiser, he obtained the officer’s permission, and the officer never advised defendant he was free to go or decline his invitation to follow him to the checkpoint. United States v. Zavala, 459 Fed. Appx. 429 (5th Cir. 2012) (unpublished).*

Defendant’s stop for a seatbelt violation was valid and with probable cause. His admissions thereafter were valid. United States v. Adams, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 1781 (4th Cir. January 25, 2012) (unpublished).*

Defendant’s search claim was decided in the criminal case, so it couldn’t be brought up in the § 2255. United States v. Williams, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12593 (D. Ore. February 1, 2012).*