Opinion · Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

United States v. Randy Lee Erwin

United States v. Randy Lee Erwin, 803 F.2d 1505 (9th Cir. 1986)

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