United States v. Raymond McMillon, 657 F. App'x 326

McMillon rode as a passenger in a tractor-trailer driven by Williams; Border Patrol stopped the truck at an immigration checkpoint near Freer, Texas, in the early morning of June 12, 2014.
During primary inspection, agents questioned occupants about citizenship and travel; a canine alerted to the trailer and Williams consented to a search of the sleeper area.
Agent Pena found hidden persons after partially lowering a fold-up bed; ten undocumented aliens were ultimately discovered and McMillon and Williams were arrested.
McMillon was indicted on one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and two substantive counts of transporting aliens for commercial advantage/private financial gain; jury convicted on all counts and found pecuniary-purpose enhancements.
District court denied McMillon’s pretrial suppression and speedy-trial dismissal motions, and denied a mitigating-role adjustment at sentencing; McMillon appealed.

Issue	McMillon’s Argument	Government’s Argument	Held
1. Motion to suppress — duration of checkpoint stop	Agent Pena’s immigration questions unlawfully extended the stop beyond permissible duration	Stop lasted ~30–40 seconds for citizenship/travel questions and to request consent, objectively reasonable	Denied; stop duration was objectively reasonable under checkpoint precedent
2. Motion to suppress — voluntariness/timing of consent and search	Search began before or coercively induced consent; consent was involuntary	District court credibility findings supported that Williams consented voluntarily before the search and agents lacked coercion	Denied; consent found voluntary and search lawful
3. Speedy Trial Act dismissal	More than 70 non-excludable days elapsed between indictment and trial	Exclusions apply (pretrial motions tolling, 30-day advisement, ends-of-justice continuances) leaving 23 non-excludable days	Denied; no Speedy Trial Act violation
4. Sufficiency of evidence & sentencing role adjustment	Insufficient evidence of conspiracy/transportation for financial gain; entitled to minor-role adjustment	Testimony and circumstantial evidence supported conspiracy, transportation, pecuniary purpose; Williams’s testimony showed joint partnership, not a lesser role for McMillon	Affirmed convictions and denial of §3B1.2 adjustment

United States v. Machuca-Barrera, 261 F.3d 425 (5th Cir.) (checkpoint stop duration measured by objective reasonableness related to citizenship inquiry)
United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543 (1976) (upholding routine suspicionless immigration checkpoint stops for citizenship inquiries)
United States v. Cavazos, 668 F.3d 190 (5th Cir.) (standard of review for suppression factual findings)
United States v. Jaime, 473 F.3d 178 (5th Cir.) (analysis rejecting subjective-motivation test for checkpoint stops)
United States v. Portillo-Aguirre, 311 F.3d 647 (5th Cir.) (distinguishing extended questioning at checkpoints that exceeded permissible inspection)
United States v. Tedford, 875 F.2d 446 (5th Cir.) (consent-to-search voluntariness factors and clear-error review)
United States v. Harris, 566 F.3d 422 (5th Cir.) (pretrial-motion tolling and time to assemble papers for disposition)
United States v. Bieganowski, 313 F.3d 264 (5th Cir.) (contemporaneous ends-of-justice findings not required if made on the record before trial)
Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000) (any fact increasing statutory maximum must be charged and submitted to jury)