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W.D.La.: Govt showed no more than a hunch for continuing stop; consent suppressed

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant was stopped for having trim around the license plate that covered the state of issuance. The officer asked her questions, and she “enthusiastically” agreed to let him keep asking. The suspicion, however, never ripened into something articulable, and the USMJ recommended suppression. United States v. Martin, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123384 (W.D. La. December 2, 2009)*: Perhaps of even greater importance is Linton's failure to explain a link between Martin's purportedly suspicious behavior and any specific criminal activity. Jenson, 462 F.3d at 405; Thibodeaux, supra. Linton testified that based upon all of the facts that he identified, he believed that Martin was up to no good and that "something [was] wrong." Linton later reiterated that he had determined that "something was wrong" and that he was going to search her vehicle...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 22, 2010 (boomark / email).