U.S. v. Gonzales-Ruiz

In prosecution on unlawful possession of firearm charge, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress two handguns found in defendant’s car during routine traffic stop. While defendant argued that he did not consent to said search when he said "I guess so” in response to officer’s question “mind if I look” and then failed to respond to officer’s follow-up question “so we’re good” since he actually was responding to wife on his cell-phone, Dist. Ct. could properly find that defendant gave consent to search car based on testimony of two officers, who stated that defendant’s response of “I guess” was directed to officer’s request to search car. Moreover, defendant’s failure to stop officer from searching car once officer began search also indicated that defendant had actually consented to search.