U.S. v. Fadiga

In prosecution on charge of possession of 15 unauthorized gift cards, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress said cards that were discovered by police during traffic stop after police had detained defendant for 30 minutes in order to bring card reader to scene of traffic stop to confirm that said cards were not legitimate. Police had reasonable suspicion to detain defendant, where: (1) defendant had consented to search of car, which revealed bag contained said cards; and (2) neither defendant nor other occupant of car could establish any right to use said car, since rental contract produced by defendant was out-of-date and did not list defendant or other occupant as authorized user of car. As such, instant delay did not violate Constitution, since police were entitled to detain defendant until his authority to use said car had been established. Ct. also rejected defendant’s argument that jury pool, which contained no African-Americans, was product of discriminatory selection process, since plaintiff produced no evidence that said process was either biased or was bypassed to produce instant jury pool.