U.S. v. Walton

In prosecution on drug distribution charge, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress drugs found in hidden cavity of defendant’s Suburban rental vehicle, even though defendant argued that although officer had sufficient cause to stop his vehicle on traffic violation, officer lacked reasonable suspicion to continue detention of defendant and his passenger, which eventually led to officer obtaining drug dog to conduct sniff test, after officer had issued warning ticket. Officer had reasonable suspicion to continue defendant’s detention where: (1) prior to issuing ticket, officer learned that neither defendant nor his passenger was legally entitled to drive vehicle; (2) by time officer had written ticket, he heard conflicting stories from defendant and his passenger about circumstances of prior stop by Kansas police, with defendant insisting that vehicle had been searched by Kansas police; (3) officer was also aware of defendant’s lengthy criminal history that included prior drug trafficking offense; and (4) officer only detained defendant for two minutes after issuing ticket, when he learned of additional inconsistency between defendant and his passenger regarding how Suburban had been rented. Fact that officer waited additional 14 minutes after issuing ticket to call for drug dog did not transform incident into unreasonably prolonged stop.