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

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

FL5: Extending stop 17 minutes after consent refused was unreasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant was stopped for a traffic offense, and the paperwork was completed in 12 minutes. When defendant would not consent to a search, a drug dog was called, and its task extended the whole stop to 29 minutes. There was no reasonable suspicion, and the de minimus rule of $404,905 is rejected, not that this was de minimus. Whitfield v. State, 2010 Fla. App. LEXIS 5340 (Fla. App. 5th DCA April 23, 2010). Defendant got out of her car with purse in hand. When she was arrested, her purse was searched incident to her arrest. It was not unreasonable under Gant because the car was not entered. State v. Johnson, 2010 Wash. App. LEXIS 447 (February 23, 2010), ordered published April 22, 2010).* Excessive nervousness, air freshener in the back, and a suspicious answer to travel plans was reasonable suspicion...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 01, 2010 (boomark / email).