On remand from the Ninth Circuit to reconsider defendant\u2019s argument on prolonging the stop, the court finds that his finally producing registration ended that part of the officer\u2019s inquiry. Defendant\u2019s car was also \u201criddled with bullet holes\u201d but that wasn\u2019t even mentioned by the police until nearly four minutes into the stop and it didn\u2019t factor into any reasonable suspicion. United States v. Williams, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 220496 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 11, 2023):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\nThe government did not cite to any authority for the proposition that an officer may pull over or search a vehicle based on the presence of bullet holes in the vehicle’s exterior. The government insists, though, that “there are exceedingly few scenarios in which a vehicle’s hood is pocked with bullet entries that do not involve some form of illegal conduct.” Gov. Reply at 4. While that exceedingly broad statement is not exactly wrong\u2014in all likelihood, a person who shoots at a civilian vehicle does so illegally\u2014there are plenty of scenarios in which the driver of a car with bullet holes in it might not have been engaged in the illegal conduct. The driver of such a car might have been the victim of a crime. … The driver of such a car might not have owned or been driving the car when the car was shot at. Even if the driver of the car was engaged in criminal conduct at some point in the past when the car was shot at, that does not mean that officers will necessarily have reasonable suspicion that the driver is currently engaged in criminal conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Accordingly, the bullet holes in Williams’s car\u2014particularly without the kinds of facts present in Rogers, 861 F. App’x at 14, or Howard, 60 F. App’x at 36 do not support reasonable suspicion.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On remand from the Ninth Circuit to reconsider defendant\u2019s argument on prolonging the stop, the court finds that his finally producing registration ended that part of the officer\u2019s inquiry. Defendant\u2019s car was also \u201criddled with bullet holes\u201d but that wasn\u2019t … Continue reading