Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

CA8 recognizes circuit split on "blended stops" but doesn't have to get into it; this stop was unreasonably long, but not a but for cause of the dog sniff

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Stop was unreasonably extended, but a dog sniff was not a "but for" cause. "Because Peralez's prolonged seizure for questioning about drug trafficking was not a but-for cause of obtaining the evidence, suppression is not warranted. See Olivera-Mendez, 484 F.3d at 511 (holding, in the alternative, that evidence discovered after a dog sniff should not be suppressed because the dog sniff, and not an earlier arguably unreasonable extension of the traffic stop, caused the discovery of the contraband)." United States v. Peralez, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 10358 (8th Cir. May 14, 2008). As to extending the stop: Our cases recognize two instances when an officer may extend or expand the scope of a traffic stop beyond the original justification for the stop...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 15, 2008 (boomark / email).