Lead Opinion
MOORE, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which CARMAN, J., joined.
SUTTON, J. (pp. 362-368), delivered a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.
OPINION
Defendants-Appellants Kevin Davis (“Davis”) and Keith Presley (“Presley”) were convicted of various drug and money-laundering offenses. On appeal Davis asserts that: (1) the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress certain evidence seized during searches of his vehicle, his home, and a storage locker; (2) the district court erred in refusing to allow him to cross-examine a government witness regarding an outstanding criminal charge; and (3) the district court erred in imposing consecutive sentences for each count on which Davis was convicted. Presley argues on appeal that there was insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction for conspiracy to launder money. Both defendants allege that: (1) their sentences violate the Sixth Amendment in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Booker,
Upon review, we conclude that the seizure of Davis’s vehicle violated the Fourth Amendment. Therefore, the order of the district court denying Davis’s motion to suppress evidence seized from the car is REVERSED, and we REMAND the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. We AFFIRM Presley’s conviction. Finally, we VACATE both Presley’s and Davis’s sentences and REMAND
I. ANALYSIS
A. Factual History
Beginning in October 1998, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) began investigating a group of drug traffickers operating between Chicago, Illinois, and the Detroit, Michigan, area. The individuals under investigation included Sidney Zanders, suspected by police of operating a large narcotics trafficking operation in the Detroit area, and Presley, believed by the DEA to be one of Zanders’s cocaine suppliers in Chicago. As part of the DEA’s investigation, Cook County investigators began to conduct surveillance of Presley.
On December 30, 1998, Cook County investigators observed Presley meeting with a man named Christopher Trammel (“Trammel”). The investigators stopped Trammel after the meeting and recovered thirty kilograms of cocaine. That same day, investigators observed Presley meeting with two other men. The two men were then stopped and investigators found an additional sixty-five kilograms of cocaine in the men’s possession. As a result of these seizures, Cook County investigators executed a search warrant on a building in South Holland, Illinois,- to which Presley was linked. In the building, investigators discovered what was deemed “a repackaging plant for narcotics.” Joint Appendix (“J.A.”) at 1100 (Mot. to Suppress Tr. at 67). The investigators found, inter alia, cutting agents, presses capable of pressing one-kilogram packages, empty economy-size laundry detergent boxes, and mounds of detergent. Then on approximately March 1, 1999, investigators observed Presley meeting with a woman named Holly Baskin-Spears (“Baskin-Spears”) in Chicago. Investigators had observed Presley meeting with her before. After the meeting, the investigators stopped Baskin-Spears and discovered thirty-eight kilograms of cocaine in her vehicle.
On April 29, 1999, Cook County investigators followed a red Corvette, known to be Presley’s, and a Range Rover with a Michigan license plate, to an Olympia Fields, Illinois, residential address. The investigators later learned that Davis was the driver of the Range Rover. Once at the residence, the investigators observed Presley conversing with a man they later learned was Davis in the driveway, though they could not hear what was being discussed. At the time,-Cook County investigators had had no previous encounters with Davis and did not know who Davis was. The investigators also observed two Tide detergent boxes near the Range Rover. Both men left the house and drove separately, Davis in the Range Rover and Presley in the red Corvette, east on Interstate 94 into Indiana. The Corvette sped up and the investigators lost sight of the car, while other Cook County investigators continued to follow the Range Rover.
Cook County investigators notified Indiana State Troopers of their suspicion that the Range Rover was carrying contraband, and shortly after Davis crossed into Indiana at approximately 6:45 p.m., an Indiana State Trooper stopped Davis for speeding. Soon after Davis was stopped, the Cook County investigators who had been following Davis arrived on the scene. The investigators informed the trooper that they believed Davis was carrying narcotics in his vehicle. The Indiana trooper approached the Range Rover and asked Davis for his driver’s license and car registration, which Davis gave to the trooper. The trooper then issued Davis a warning for speeding and asked whether Davis would consent to a search of his vehicle.
At approximately 7:00 p.m., Lake Station, Indiana, Canine Supervisor Tim Craigin (“Officer Craigin”) was notified that a drug-sniffing dog was needed at the location. Officer Craigin arrived on the scene with his dog Rocky at approximately 7:15 p.m. Upon his arrival, Officer Craigin spoke with the officers on the scene and then walked Rocky around Davis’s Range Rover. While Rocky showed some interest in the rear hatch area of the vehicle, Rocky did not alert positively to the presence of narcotics in the vehicle. Officer Craigin then placed Rocky back into his vehicle at approximately 7:30 p.m. and advised investigating police of the results of the search.
At approximately 7:20 p.m., DEA Special Agent Vince Balbo (“Agent Balbo”) arrived on the scene and took charge of the investigation. From the record it is unclear whether Agent Balbo was aware of the fact that a drug-sniffing dog had already been used to search Davis’s vehicle. Nonetheless, Agent Balbo contacted a neighboring county, Lake County, Indiana, to request that a drug-sniffing dog be sent to the scene. Lake County Deputy Mur-chek arrived on the scene at approximately 8:20 p.m. with his dog Sabor. Deputy Murchek took Sabor around the vehicle, and the dog alerted to the rear hatch area of the Range Rover. Indiana state police then obtained a search warrant for the Range Rover based on the surveillance observations and Sabor’s alert. In obtaining this warrant, the Indiana trooper failed to inform the magistrate that the first dog failed to alert. During the search of the Range Rover, Indiana troopers seized $705,880 in cash contained in two Tide detergent boxes and one plain brown box along with numerous miscellaneous documents. Many of the documents were receipts in Davis’s name for home improvements at 6960 Leslee Crest Drive, West Bloomfield, Michigan, which were paid for in cash.
Following the search and seizure of Davis’s vehicle, a DEA agent executed a search warrant at Davis’s residence at 6960 Leslee Crest Drive. At the residence, DEA agents discovered a receipt for the rental of a storage locker in the name of Tony Muhammad along with a key to a storage locker. The agents were able to find the storage locker matching the receipt and the key at a storage facility in Troy, Michigan. A DEA agent obtained a search, warrant to search the storage locker. Upon a search of the storage locker, DEA agents discovered approximately $2 million in cash.
B. Procedural History
On August 9, 2001, Presley, Davis, and several other codefendants were indicted in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Both Davis arid Presley were charged with conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine (“Count One”), and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments (“Count Twelve”). Davis was also charged with money laundering (“Counts Thirteen and Fourteen”) and aiding and abetting another. codefendant in money laundering (“Count Fifteen”). Presley was additionally, charged with the use of a communica
A jury trial was held, at the conclusion of which the jury found Presley guilty on Counts One, Two, and Twelve (the charges on which he was indicted) and found Davis guilty as to Counts One, Twelve, and Fifteen. Davis was sentenced to concurrent terms of 240 months’ imprisonment as to Counts One and Twelve and a consecutive term of 120 months’ imprisonment on Count Fifteen, for a total sentence of 860 months’ imprisonment. Presley received concurrent sentences of imprisonment for 360 months, 48 months, and 240 months on each count respectively, for a total of 360 months’ imprisonment. Both defendants then filed timely appeals.
II. ANALYSIS
A. Motion to Suppress
Prior to trial, Davis filed a motion to suppress various pieces of evidence, including money and papers seized during the April 29, 1999 search of the Range Rover. Davis contended that the police search of his vehicle following the traffic stop was impermissible under the Fourth Amendment. Davis asserted that as a result of this allegedly illegal search, the searches of his home and the storage locker were also invalid. The district court held a suppression hearing on the matter but ultimately held that the search of the Range Rover did not violate the Fourth Amendment. The district court concluded that none of the law enforcement officers had probable cause to search the Range Rover at the time of the stop. Nevertheless, the court decided that the law enforcement officers involved had reasonable suspicion that Davis was in possession of narcotics. The court deemed this reasonable suspicion sufficient justification for the continued detention of Davis and the Range Rover for the period necessary to obtain the second dog’s positive sniff and the search warrant. Therefore, the district court concluded that neither the search of Davis’s vehicle nor the subsequent searches of his home and the storage locker violated the Fourth Amendment.
Davis now asserts that the district court erred in reaching its conclusion concerning the search of the Range Rover. Davis further contends that evidence seized during the searches of his home and the storage facility should also be suppressed under the “fruits of a poisonous tree” doctrine. See generally Wong Sun v. United States,
We review the district court’s denial of Davis’s motion to suppress under a mixed standard of review.' “We reverse the district court’s findings of fact only if they are clearly erroneous, but review de novo the district court’s legal conclusions.” United States v. Akridge,
1. Initial Stop
As a beginning matter, we conclude, and the defendant does not contest, that the initial stop of Davis’s vehicle was lawful. We have long held that “so long as the officer has probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred or was occurring, the resultant stop is not unlawful and does not violate the Fourth Amendment.” United States v. Bradshaw,
Here, the Indiana State Trooper’s observation of Davis speeding provided the police with probable cause initially to detain Davis for the limited purpose of issuing a traffic warning. Thus, it was constitutionally permissible for the Indiana State Trooper to pull over Davis’s vehicle and detain him while a traffic warning was written and issued. It is immaterial, for purposes of the initial stop, that Cook County investigators were following Davis’s vehicle at the time of the traffic violation. That the Indiana State Trooper had probable cause to believe that Davis was speeding was sufficient to justify the initial detention of Davis’s vehicle.
The partial dissent argues that the Cook County investigators also had probable cause to stop Davis because they could properly conclude that there was a “fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime [would] be found” in Davis’s car. Illinois v. Gates,
2. Detention After Initial Stop
Having concluded that the police had probable cause to stop Davis for a traffic violation, we must then ask whether it was constitutionally permissible for the police to detain Davis after a warning had been issued and the purpose of the traffic stop had been accomplished. Probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred is unlike probable cause to believe that a criminal violation has occurred and thus does not allow the police to detain a suspect indefinitely. See Knowles v. Iowa,
Te'i'ry, a limited exception to the normal requirements of probable cause, permits a police officer briefly to detain a person or property for investigative purposes if the officer has a reasonable suspicion, supported by articulable facts, that criminal activity has occurred or is about to occur. Farm Labor Org. Comm. v. Ohio State Highway Patrol,
Next, if we conclude that the basis for the Terry stop was proper, then we must determine “whether the degree of intrusion ... was reasonably related in scope to the situation at hand, which is judged by examining the reasonableness of the officials’ conduct given their suspicions and the surrounding circumstances.” Garza,
Davis concedes, and we agree, that the police had reasonable suspicion to detain Davis for the additional approximately thirty to forty-five minutes it took for the police to bring the first drug-sniffing dog to the scene and have the dog check the vehicle for the presence of narcotics. At the time that Davis was stopped for speeding, it was reasonable for the police to suspect, based on articulable facts, that Davis’s vehicle contained narcotics. Shortly before the stop, the police had observed Davis meeting with Presley,
During Davis’s meeting with Presley, Cook County investigators observed economy-size laundry detergent boxes near the Range Rover. While it was unclear prior to the search of the Range Rover what happened to the detergent boxes after Presley and Davis parted company, the investigators had reason to suspect that the detergent boxes were related to narcotics dealings. Only a few months earlier, Cook County investigators had searched a building connected with Presley and discovered numerous items used in repackaging narcotics, including several economy-size laundry detergent boxes.
Finally, Cook County investigators had been investigating Presley and others connected with him because they believed that Presley was involved with a narcotics ring that transported drugs between Chicago and Detroit. At Davis’s meeting with Presley, the investigators observed that the Range Rover had a Michigan license plate. Furthermore, the investigators followed Davis as he drove east on Interstate 94 out of Illinois, into Indiana, and in the direction of Michigan. Davis’s license plate and his direction of travel suggested to the investigators that he might have some involvement in transporting narcotics from Chicago to Detroit. Examining the totality of the circumstances known to the investigators at the time of Davis’s initial detention, the investigators had sufficient reason to suspect that Davis was transporting narcotics in his vehicle to justify an additional delay of Davis’s vehicle to allow further police investigation. The Cook County investigators requested that the Indiana- State Troopers stop Davis for speeding, and the Indiana troopers had sufficient justification for their further investigation based on the information provided by the investigators.
Having determined that there was at the outset sufficient reasonable suspicion for the Indiana troopers initially to detain Davis following the completion of the traffic stop, we must consider whether the seizure was sufficiently limited in time and whether the investigative means were “minimally intrusive.” United States v. Place,
Given that the police had no reason to continue to suspect that Davis possessed narcotics, delaying Davis’s vehicle an additional hour in order to permit a second examination of the vehicle by another drug-sniffing dog was unreasonable. The use of the second dog and the continued detention of Davis’s vehicle served no investigatory purpose. See Sharpe,
We have repeatedly held that a detention of property based upon reasonable suspicion may continue only for so long as it takes the officer to prove or disprove those suspicions. Thus, in Farm Labor, we found unreasonable and, therefore, unconstitutional the seizure of motorists’ green cards for four days where law enforcement agents suspected the green cards to be fraudulent. Farm Labor,
As in Farm Labor• and Bennett, the additional hour detention of Davis’s vehicle served little, if any, investigatory purpose. In both cases the officers’ continued detention of the personal effects beyond the reasonable amount of time needed to conduct an investigation was held to be unacceptable. Just as the LEIN search in Bennett informed the officers that the bicycles were not stolen, Rocky’s sniff indicated there were no narcotics in the vehicle. Similarly, in this case the officers’ continued detention of Davis’s vehicle solely for the purpose of obtaining another drug-sniffing dog was unreasonable.
To allow police to delay further a suspect for the purpose of obtaining another drug-sniffing dog, whether intentionally or as the result of miscommunication,
3. Later Warrant Does not Cure Constitutional Defect
Having determined that the seizure of Davis’s vehicle violated the Fourth Amendment, we must consider whether the evidence obtained from the vehicle following the seizure must be suppressed. Specifically, we must determine whether the officers’ procurement of a warrant pri- or to searching the vehicle cured any constitutional defect that occurred prior to the search. We hold that the search of Davis’s vehicle was tainted by the illegal seizure, and thus the search warrant was insufficient to overcome this constitutional defect.
Having determined that the search warrant included illegally obtained information, in this case the second drug-sniffing dog’s positive alert, we must remove this fact from the affidavit when considering whether there is still sufficient information
4. Admissibility of Other Searches
Having determined that the search of Davis’s vehicle violated the Fourth Amendment, and therefore that the district court erred in denying Davis’s motion to suppress evidence seized during the search, we remand the ease to the district court for a determination as to whether Davis’s conviction still stands. The district court must consider whether evidence seized during the other searches was the fruit of a poisonous tree, see Wong Sun v. United States,
B. Sufficiency of the Evidence
Presley contends that the government failed to introduce sufficient evidence at trial to support his conviction for conspiring to launder money. In addressing such a challenge we must determine “whether,
No such miscarriage of justice is present in this case. Presley contests his conviction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h), which prohibits individuals from conspiring to commit money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956 or § 1957. Most relevant for our purposes, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)® requires proof of:
(1) use of funds that are proceeds of unlawful activity; (2) knowledge that the funds are proceeds of unlawful activity; and (3) conducting] or attempting] to conduct a financial transaction, knowing that the transaction is designed in whole or in part to disguise the nature, location, source, ownership or control of the proceeds.
United States v. Prince,
In this case there is sufficient evidence on the record before us to conclude that no miscarriage of justice occurred. There is ample evidence in the record to indicate that Davis engaged in money laundering by using drug proceeds to purchase or lease real estate and vehicles through the use of nominee owners in order to conceal the source of money. Additionally, there is evidence to suggest that Davis had access to drug proceeds belonging to Presley. Evidence was introduced at trial showing that Presley, under the fictitious name of Tony Muhammad, rented a storage locker in which over $2 million in cash was found. The record also indicates that Davis was involved in the renting of this storage locker as both a key to the locker and a rental receipt for it were found at Davis’s home. Finally, there is evidence in the record indicating that Presley sold Davis large quantities of cocaine. Given this evidence, it would not be a miscarriage of justice for a jury to infer that Presley and Davis were involved not only in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine but also in a conspiracy to launder money. See generally United States v. Bencs,
Presley’s sufficiency claim is also unaffected by our holding that the search of Davis’s vehicle violated Davis’s Fourth Amendment rights. While the evidence seized from the storage locker and Davis’s house may have been erroneously admitted as part of the prosecution’s case against Davis, the admission of this evidence as part of the prosecution’s case against Presley was constitutionally permissible. Because “the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places,” Katz v. United States,
C. Cross-Examination
At trial, one of the main witnesses who testified against Davis was Thomas Patrick (“Patrick”). Prior to Davis’s arrest, Patrick assisted Davis in his drug operations and also acted as Davis’s general assistant. On cross-examination, Davis’s defense counsel attempted to discredit Patrick’s testimony by questioning Patrick as to his criminal history and any benefits he might receive from the government in exchange for his testimony against Davis. Along these lines, Davis’s defense counsel sought to suggest that Patrick was induced to testify in favor of the government in exchange for the government having declined to turn Patrick over to local authorities on a ten-year-old outstanding warrant stemming from a state drug case. The prosecution objected to this line of questioning, and the district judge sustained the prosecution’s objection on the grounds that there was no evidence suggesting that the government was even aware of the existence of the outstanding warrant. Davis asserts that the district judge’s ruling im-permissibly limited his right to cross examine Patrick. We disagree with Davis’s assertion.
Although a defendant is guaranteed the right to confront the witnesses against him, this right is not absolute. Norris v. Schotten,
Defense counsel asserts that the line of questioning limited by the district court would have shown that Patrick was biased in favor of the government because of the benefits Patrick was receiving in exchange for his testimony. Yet, we doubt
D. Booker Claims
Both Presley and Davis contend that their sentences violate the Sixth Amendment in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Booker,
As both defendants failed to raise any Sixth Amendment claim before the district court, we may notice their claims only if they constitute plain error. United States v. Oliver,
The claims raised by Presley and Davis as to the constitutionality of then-sentences are analytically identical to the claims raised by defendants in Oliver and United States v. McDaniel,
The defendants raise other sentencing claims, alleging that the district court erred in imposing a role-in-the-offense sentence enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1, and that the district court improperly calculated the drug quantity attributable to each defendant for sentencing purposes. We need not address these claims now given that the district court must reconsider the defendants’ sentences in their totality upon remand. It would be unnecessary for us to consider whether, for example, the district court properly calculated the quantity of drugs attributable to each defendant given that this quantity may change upon resentencing as a result of this opinion. Instead, we urge the district court to consider carefully and document the appropriate guideline range to be considered as part of resentencing. If after resentencing the defendants still believe their sentences to be erroneous they may challenge their sentences on appeal.
III. CONCLUSION
For the reasons discussed above, the order of the district court denying Davis’s motion to suppress evidence seized from the car is REVERSED, and we REMAND the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. We AFFIRM Presley’s conviction. Finally, we VACATE both Presley’s and Davis’s sentences and REMAND the cases to the district court for resentencing in light of Booker.
Notes
. The cases cited by the partial dissent are not analogous to the factual scenario before us. In United States v. Burton,
. The Michigan Law Enforcement Information Network ("LEIN”) is an electronic compilation of criminal justice information available for the use of specific authorized state officials and agencies.
. There is a dispute in the record as to whether Agent Balbo was aware of the first dog sniff when he requested a second dog sniff of the vehicle. For Fourth Amendment purposes, Agent Balbo’s subjective knowledge at the time of the second dog sniff is immaterial. The material fact is that Davis was unreasonably delayed an additional hour with little, if any, investigative rationale.
. The Government does not argue that this case falls under the good-faith defense set forth in United States v. Leon,
. Our conclusion that the district court did not abuse its discretion is supported the fact that the district court permitted defense counsel to cross examine Patrick as to other benefits he was receiving from the government in order to highlight Patrick's bias in favor of the government. See United States v. Kone,
Concurrence Opinion
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the majority’s resolution of Keith Presley’s sufficiency-of-the-evidence claim (Part II.B), in its resolution of Kevin Davis’s Sixth Amendment claim (II.C) and in its resolution of the various sentencing issues that both defendants raise (II.D). Although I find much with which to agree in the majority’s analysis of Davis’s Fourth Amendment claim, I believe that the officers had probable cause to stop Davis and search his car and that this probable cause did not dissipate over the course of the encounter. I therefore respectfully dissent from Part II.A of the opinion.
Let me start by emphasizing my agreement with the majority. I agree that the initial stop of Davis’s automobile was lawful. I agree that, once the officers had stopped Davis’s vehicle, they needed probable cause, but nothing more, to search Davis’s Range Rover under the automobile exception to the warrant requirement. See Pennsylvania v. Labron,
My problem is that when the officers initially detained Davis, they had probable cause, not reasonable suspicion, that Davis was involved in drug trafficking. As with many criminal investigations, the relevant timeline for analyzing the Fourth Amendment claim begins well before the officers observed Davis and Presley meet on April 29, 1999. Through the winter of 1998— 1999, Chicago police officers, led by 25-year veteran Sergeant Patrick Scanlon, conducted surveillance of Presley and stopped four individuals with whom Presley met, finding cocaine packaged in large boxes on each occasion. On December 30, 1998, officers stopped Christopher Tram-mell after he had met with Presley, discovering 30 kilograms of cocaine in his vehicle. On the same day, officers stopped Elix Duncan and Kenneth Dunlap after they met with Presley and found 65 kilograms of cocaine. In March of 1999, officers stopped Holly Baskins-Spears after she met Presley and seized 38 kilograms of cocaine. On the basis of the first two searches, the officers obtained a search warrant for a building in South Holland, a suburb of Chicago, where they found cutting agents, presses for making kilogram packages, empty industrial size soap detergent boxes of Tide and Arm & Hammer and a mound of seemingly discarded laundry detergent on the floor.
By the time that investigators with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Narcotics Strike Force observed Davis and Presley on April 29, 1999, in other words, they had already witnessed Presley meet with four individuals who were later stopped and found possessing cocaine in large quantities and, so far as the record reveals, they had never once stopped an individual who met Presley and was later found not to be possessing cocaine. Then, on April 29, the Cook County investigators saw Davis’s silver 1999 Range Rover following Presley’s car. The investigators then “observed those two vehicles take different routes to a[] [home] in [the Chicago suburb of] Olympia Fields,” JA 1102, 1494, where investigators saw Davis meet Presley in the driveway of the home at about 6:00 p.m. During the course of their observations, the investigators saw two Tide boxes— boxes that connected this encounter to the drug packaging materials that the police had earlier found at the South Holland drug house — “on the hood or tailgate” of Davis’s Range Rover, with Presley and Davis standing nearby. JA 363. When the police stopped Davis on April 29, they thus knew that: (1) Davis had just rendezvoused with a suspected drug dealer, Presley, whom the police had already linked to over 100 kilograms of cocaine; (2) when the police had seen Davis and Presley together earlier that day, Tide boxes were “on the hood or tailgate” of Davis’s car; (3) Tide boxes used as drug packaging material had been found in the December 1998 search of Presley’s drug house; and (4) the officers stopped four individuals after those individuals met with Presley under suspicious circumstances, and each time the officers found substantial quantities (30, 38 and 65 kilograms) of cocaine.
On this record, the officers could fairly conclude that probable cause existed, namely that there was a “fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime [would] be found” in Davis’s car. Illinois v. Gates,
In the end, it took no leap of inferential faith for the officers to conclude that the fourth car leaving a suspicious meeting with Presley, like the previous three, would also be carrying contraband, which is why the case law pertaining to warrant-less searches of automobiles permits searches supported by a similar amount of information. See Maryland v. Dyson,
Nor is this a case like Ybarra v. Illinois,
Although this analysis establishes that the officers had probable cause to search Davis’s car immediately and to detain it at the start of the encounter, that does not end the inquiry. Whether because of an abundance of caution, see JA 244, 1056 (officer stating to another officer that she would run the first dog sniff “to establish more [] probable cause”) (emphasis added), or because they believed they lacked probable cause, the officers elected not to search the car immediately and requested a drug-sniffing dog instead. Two things then happened: (1) time passed and (2) Rocky (the first dog) failed to alert after sniffing the car. Neither development, however, eliminated the right to search the vehicle.
Doubtless, the passage of time is critical to the reasonableness of a Terry stop, see Place,
Precedent also generally establishes that a dog’s failure to alert does not by itself destroy probable cause. Illustrative of the cases is then-Judge Breyer’s opinion in United States v. Jodoin,
In a variety of factual scenarios, other courts have reached similar conclusions. See United States v. Williams,
These cases reveal a near universal recognition that a drug-sniffing dog’s failure to alert does not necessarily destroy probable cause, and ample reasons support this approach. Canine searches are not infallible, for one. See Illinois v. Caballes,
The only case that Davis has cited in support of his position, United States v. Jacobs,
I would affirm Davis’s and Presley’s convictions and remand to the district court for resentencing.
