United States v. Ignacio Zavala, 459 F. App'x 429

Zavala was indicted on conspiracy to possess more than 500 grams of cocaine with intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine.
Zavala moved to suppress the evidence; the district court denied after an evidentiary hearing, and Zavala entered a conditional guilty plea to Count 2 reserving his right to appeal the suppression ruling.
The Fifth Circuit has jurisdiction to review a denial of a suppression motion following a conditional guilty plea under Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(a)(2).
On February 21, 2009, Trooper Montalvo stopped Zavala on Highway 281 due to an obscured license plate; initial stop was based on license-plate obscurity and an initially mistaken belief the vehicle registration was expired.
During the stop, Zavala sat in the cruiser, spoke with Montalvo, retrieved a motel receipt, and later consented to follow Montalvo to a checkpoint where a canine sniff led to cocaine, after which a search in secondary revealed the drugs.
The district court found the stop reasonable and Zavala’s consent to the checkpoint visit voluntary, supporting denial of the suppression motion, which Zavala appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Was Zavala’s consent to follow the officer to the checkpoint voluntary?	Zavala argues consent was involuntary due to coercive circumstances.	Montalvo argues consent was voluntary under the totality of circumstances.	No; consent was not voluntary, as coercive factors outweighed any voluntariness.

United States v. Jenkins, 46 F.3d 447 (5th Cir. 1995) (six-factor voluntariness test for consent to search)
Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218 (U.S. 1973) (consent must be free and unconstrained under totality of circumstances)
United States v. Ponce, 8 F.3d 989 (5th Cir. 1993) (preponderance standard for proving voluntary consent)
Hurtado, 905 F.2d 74 (5th Cir. 1990) (en banc reference on voluntariness of consent)
United States v. Olivier-Becerril, 861 F.2d 424 (5th Cir. 1988) (six-factor approach to voluntariness of consent)
United States v. Kelley, 981 F.2d 1464 (5th Cir. 1993) (context of consent and voluntariness noted)
United States v. Tedford, 875 F.2d 446 (5th Cir. 1989) (six-factor framework for voluntariness)
Shabazz, 993 F.2d 438 (5th Cir. 1993) (importance of informing rights to refuse consent)
United States v. Jones, 234 F.3d 234 (5th Cir. 2010) (coercive factors in stop leading to consent)
United States v. Jenson, 462 F.3d 399 (5th Cir. 2006) (adverse inference from unwarranted delay in papers)