{"id":13528,"date":"2014-10-02T15:06:18","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T20:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=13528"},"modified":"2014-10-06T12:48:31","modified_gmt":"2014-10-06T17:48:31","slug":"cert-grant-on-dog-sniff-after-stop-should-be-complete-the-eighth-circuits-de-minimus-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=13528","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS grants cert. on dog sniff after stop should be complete; the Eighth Circuit’s de minimus rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rodriguez v. United States, 13-9972, cert. granted October 2, 2014<\/a> (ScotusBlog<\/a>). Question presented:<\/p>\n

This Court has held that, during an otherwise lawful traffic stop, asking a driver to exit a vehicle, conducting a drug sniff with a trained canine, or asking a few off-topic questions are “de minimis” intrusions on personal liberty that do not require reasonable suspicion of criminal activity in order to comport with the Fourth Amendment. This case poses the question of whether the same rule applies after the conclusion of the traffic stop, so that an officer may extend the already-completed stop for a canine sniff without reasonable suspicion or other lawful justification.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Opinion below: United States v. Rodriguez<\/a>, 741 F.3d 905 (8th Cir. 2014). The holding below:
\n<\/p>\n

As set forth above, Rodriguez was charged with possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine. The district court denied Rodriguez\u2019s motion to suppress the evidence, holding that the delay caused by the dog sniff did not violate Rodriguez\u2019s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizures. On appeal, Rodriguez argues that his motion should have been granted because the stop was unreasonably prolonged by the dog sniff in the absence of reasonable suspicion to continue his detention. Rodriguez does not challenge the validity of the initial stop. <\/p>\n

\u201c[A] dog sniff conducted during a traffic stop that is \u2018lawful at its inception and otherwise executed in a reasonable manner\u2019 does not infringe upon a constitutionally protected interest in privacy.\u201d United States v. Martin, 411 F.3d 998, 1002 (8th Cir. 2005) (quoting Illinois v. Caballes, 543 U.S. 405, 408 (2005)). We have held that once an \u201cofficer decides to let a routine traffic offender depart with a ticket, a warning, or an all clear[,] … the Fourth Amendment applies to limit any subsequent detention or search.\u201d United States v. $404,905.00 in U.S. Currency, 182 F.3d 643, 648 (8th Cir. 1999). Accordingly, a dog sniff may be the product of an unconstitutional seizure, \u201cif the traffic stop is unreasonably prolonged before the dog is employed.\u201d Martin, 411 F.3d at 1002 (citing Caballes, 543 U.S. at 407). A brief delay to employ a dog does not unreasonably prolong the stop, however, and we have repeatedly upheld dog sniffs that were conducted minutes after the traffic stop concluded. See, e.g., United States v. Alexander, 448 F.3d 1014, 1017 (8th Cir. 2006) (four-minute delay upheld as a de minimis intrusion on personal liberty); Martin, 411 F.3d at 1002 (two-minute delay upheld); United States v. Morgan, 270 F.3d 625, 632 (8th Cir. 2001) (delay of \u201cwell under ten minutes\u201d upheld); $404,905.00 in U.S. Currency, 182 F.3d at 649 (two minute delay upheld).<\/p>\n

Although the dog was located in the patrol car, Struble waited to employ it until a second officer arrived, explaining that he did so for his safety because there were two persons in Rodriguez\u2019s vehicle. The resulting seven- or eight-minute delay is similar to the delay that we have found to be reasonable in other circumstances. See Morgan, 270 F.3d at 632 (\u201cWe do not believe that the few minutes difference between the time in this case and $404,905 has constitutional significance.\u201d). We thus conclude that it constituted a de minimis intrusion on Rodriguez\u2019s personal liberty.<\/p>\n

In light of our conclusion that the traffic stop was not unreasonably prolonged, we need not decide whether Struble had reasonable suspicion to continue Rodriguez\u2019s detention. The order denying the motion to suppress is affirmed. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rodriguez v. United States, 13-9972, cert. granted October 2, 2014 (ScotusBlog). Question presented: This Court has held that, during an otherwise lawful traffic stop, asking a driver to exit a vehicle, conducting a drug sniff with a trained canine, or … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dog-sniff","category-reasonable-suspicion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13528"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13582,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13528\/revisions\/13582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}