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

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

CA10: Defense did not show that highway drug dog was roving checkpoint

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Argument that a drug dog in a highway patrol car is the equivalent of a roving drug checkpoint was not preserved for appeal, but the argument would lose anyway. United States v. Bravo, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 247 (10th Cir. January 7, 2009) (unpublished): Moreover, this case is easily distinguishable from Edmond and therefore the argument is without merit. Edmond involved a programmatic purpose to uncover evidence of ordinary criminal wrongdoing (drug trafficking), Edmond, 531 U.S. at 40-43, "without individualized suspicion," id. at 45-46. Here, in contrast, the programmatic purpose of drug interdiction which the agent testified to, Tr. 29-32, is carried out only when there is individualized suspicion that a traffic violation has occurred. Because the stop was objectively justified, we do not look beyond that justification to the officer's unit assignment...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 12, 2009 (boomark / email).