Opinion · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

United States v. Randy Lee Erwin

803 F.2d 1505

Type
Opinion
Court
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1986-11-07
Topic
general

How later courts describe this case

  • concluding there was no seizure when officers told defendant “they were conducting a narcotics investigation,” questioned the defendant about drugs, and pointed out holes in the defendant’s story
  • including in list of suspicious activity the fact that defendant had flown 4,000 miles round-trip from Alaska to San Francisco--"a known drug-source city"--in a two day period
  • "Only troopers Bowman and McMillon testified at the hearing, and their testimony suggests that they requested Erwin's cooperation and that he freely complied."
  • no seizure where stop occurred in public place and there was no show of force
  • a reasonable person would not have believed that he was not free to leave when approached in parking lot and asked for identification and ticket
  • “a reasonable person in Erwin’s position [who had been stopped in an airport parking lot and asked for identification and plane tickets] would have considered himself free to leave”
  • circuitous route taken through terminal without adequate explanation helped establish requisite degree of suspicion
  • 45-minute delay from time defendant stepped off flight until police-trained dog detected drug odor from defendant's day pack was not unreasonable for constitutional purposes

Citator

UpLaw has not yet analyzed United States v. Randy Lee Erwin. The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.

Cited by
73 opinions