CA6: Arrest warrant made officers lawfully in defendant’s place under Payton for a plain view

Officers lawfully in defendant’s place with an arrest warrant saw a gun and ammunition in plain view, so the seizure was valid. United States v. Lyons, 488 Fed. Appx. 40 (6th Cir. 2012).*

Defendant argued that one question from the officer expanded the scope of a traffic stop. The court concludes, however, that his shaking and obvious nervousness and deflection when the question was asked was reasonable suspicion. One question could be enough, but not here. State v. Smith, 814 N.W.2d 346 (Minn. 2012)*:

[W]e conclude that Smith’s extreme shaking and his evasive response when asked about his shaking provided the officers with reasonable, articulable suspicion sufficient to support an expansion of the traffic stop. In essence, because we conclude that the officers had reasonable, articulable suspicion to support the alleged expansion of the stop, we assume without deciding that Ehrhardt’s question caused an incremental expansion in the scope of the traffic stop.1
1 We are not persuaded by the State’s argument that a question cannot expand the scope of a traffic stop. Instead, we recognize that even a single question, depending on its content, could expand the scope of a traffic stop under other facts.