U.S. v. Leiva

In prosecution on charge of conspiracy to possess counterfeit credit cards and possession of counterfeit credit cards, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress search of his rental vehicle that revealed quantity of said credit cards after defendant’s vehicle had been stopped for traffic offense. Record showed that: (1) defendant spoke only Spanish and arresting officer spoke only English; (2) after issuing warning ticket, arresting officer asked defendant in Spanish “may I look for your car,” while believing he was asking defendant if he could search his car; and (3) defendant said “Si” and stood by while arresting officer and other officers searched car and found counterfeit credit cards. While arresting officer lacked probable cause to search defendant’s vehicle, Dist. Ct. could properly find that defendant consented to said search, even though arresting officer did not exactly ask to search defendant’s vehicle, since circumstances indicated that defendant understood that arresting officer was asking permission to search car, where defendant readily agreed to arresting officer’s request to what would otherwise be nonsensical question and stood by while search occurred. Ct. further rejected defendant’s due process argument that he encountered certain difficulties he experienced with court interpreter, where record revealed that defendant was otherwise able to clearly convey his defense to charged offense.