United States v. Gonzalez

952 F. Supp. 813, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 735, 1997 WL 33253
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Georgia
DecidedJanuary 23, 1997
DocketNo. 7:95-cr-16 (WDO)
StatusPublished

This text of 952 F. Supp. 813 (United States v. Gonzalez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Gonzalez, 952 F. Supp. 813, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 735, 1997 WL 33253 (M.D. Ga. 1997).

Opinion

ORDER

OWENS, District Judge.

Before the court is defendants’ motion to suppress evidence obtained in an automobile search. A hearing was held in open court on January 3, 1997, in Macon, Georgia. After carefully considering the arguments of counsel, the relevant case law, and the record as a whole, the court issues the following order.

FACTS

On February 23,1995, Deputy J.D. Yeager of the Lowndes County Sheriffs Department was patrolling Interstate 75 near Valdosta, Georgia. Deputy Robert Bishop of the Butts County Sheriffs Department accompanied Yeager in the ear. Bishop was not in the car as an on-duty officer, but was being driven back to Butts County after having taught a course in highway interdiction.

The officers were travelling northbound near exit 2 when Yeager noticed a Lincoln Town Car moving slowly and swerving several times outside both the right and left lines marking the lane. Suspecting the driver might be intoxicated or falling asleep, Yeager pulled the car over. The driver, Guillermo Gonzalez, exited the ear and produced a driver’s license. Yeager asked who owned the car and Gonzalez answered that he had rented the car in Miami. Gonzalez gave Yeager a copy of the rental agreement, which named the primary renter as an Adalberto Valdes, who was not in the car. The rental agreement listed Gonzalez as an additional driver in one place and as an additional renter in another. Yeager told Gonzalez he had been stopped for weaving, and Gonzalez replied that he had been weaving because he had reached down to get something from the floor of the car.

Yeager would later testify that a number of factors made him suspicious during the course of his discussion with Gonzalez. Yeager’s suspicion was first aroused by the discrepancy between Gonzalez’ statement that he had rented the car and the rental agreement’s naming of Adalberto Valdes as the primary renter. Second, Yeager testified that he thought it strange when Gonzalez said he was going to Atlanta to visit his ex-wife. Third, Gonzalez told Yeager that the passenger in the car was his daughter Evelyn Gonzalez, but her identification listed her name as Gloria Suarez. Deputy Yeager testified that the difference in last names aroused his suspicion because he noticed that the woman was not wearing a wedding band. Fourth, Yeager testified that throughout their discussion Gonzalez was very nervous and would not look him in the face. Finally, when Yeager told Gonzalez he was only going to issue a warning rather than a ticket, Gonzalez remained nervous rather than appearing relieved as most drivers would.

Yeager finished writing the warning ticket and handed it to Gonzalez, then asked Gonzalez if he could search the ear. Gonzalez refused, saying he did not want the officers to upset his daughter (Government’s Response to Defendant Suarez’ Motion to Suppress, at 2). Yeager explained to Gonzalez that he felt justified in briefly detaining the car so that a canine unit could be called in to [815]*815sniff the car. He then called for the canine unit which was positioned approximately 500 yards down the highway. Yeager told Gonzalez he and his daughter were free to go but the car was not, and even offered Gonzalez a ride to the next service station. Gonzalez said he would stay with the car.

The canine unit, consisting of Deputy Dana Griffin and the dog Max, arrived within approximately two minutes of Gonzalez’ refusing to give consent to have his car searched. Deputy Griffin walked Max around the car. She later testified that Max had showed interest in the right rear area of the ear by moving his head from side to side as if getting ready to alert to the presence of drugs. At the time, however, Deputy Griffin concluded the search and only told Yeager that Max had “showed interest” in the car— she did not use the word “alert”. Yeager, who at the time had not been trained in the use of drug dogs, took the statement as an indication that Max had not found drugs and allowed Gonzalez to drive off.

Deputy Bishop, who trained drug dogs as a sideline business, had been watching Max as he sniffed out the car. He testified that Max’s behavior was consistent with a “body alert,” and that this behavior usually meant the dog had detected a drug odor. Bishop testified that drug dogs are trained to pinpoint the strongest source of the odor before fully alerting, and in his opinion Max had been about to reach the full alert stage when he was pulled away by Deputy Griffin.

Once the officers were back in the car, Bishop informed Yeager that he thought Max had been about to alert for drugs. At the same time, the radio dispatcher reported to Yeager that Guillermo Gonzalez had a history of trafficking in cocaine. Upon learning these new pieces of information, Yeager decided to pull Gonzalez over a second time to conduct a full search of the vehicle.

Yeager pulled over Gonzalez for the second time approximately two minutes after Gonzalez had driven away from the site of the first stop and approximately fifteen minutes from the time Gonzalez had denied consent to a search of the ear.1 He informed Gonzalez that he felt he had probable cause to search the car and proceeded to do so. The search uncovered five kilograms of cocaine in the trunk and a loaded gun in the back seat. Defendants were arrested and have now moved to suppress all evidence obtained as a result of the search.

DISCUSSION

I. Standing

The government contends that neither defendant has standing to challenge the search. In order to challenge a search under the Fourth Amendment, a defendant bears the initial burden of establishing that he had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the premises or items searched. United States v. Tobin, 890 F.2d 319, 324 (11th Cir.1989).

The court finds that defendant Evelyn Gonzalez (a.k.a. Gloria Suarez) has failed to meet that burden. Although there is no dispute that Ms. Gonzalez was legitimately present in the car, the Supreme Court has rejected the argument that this alone is sufficient to confer standing. Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 148, 99 S.Ct. 421, 433, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978). In Rakas, the Court held that passengers in a rented ear who asserted neither a property nor a possessory interest in the automobile searched nor an [816]*816interest in the property seized did not have standing to challenge the search of the glove compartment or the back seat. Id. The Court stated that “Like the trunk of an automobile, these are areas in which a passenger qua passenger simply would, not normally have a legitimate expectation of privacy.” Id. at 128-29, 99 S.Ct. at 433, As a mere passenger in the rental car, Ms. Gonzalez has failed to meet her burden by asserting a possessory or property interest in either the automobile or the property • seized sufficient to confer upon her a legitimate expectation of privacy in either. See United States v. McCulley, 673 F.2d 346, 352 (11th Cir.1982) (citing United States v. McConnell, 500 F.2d 347 (5th Cir.1974)). Accordingly, she has no standing under Rakas,

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Bluebook (online)
952 F. Supp. 813, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 735, 1997 WL 33253, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-gonzalez-gamd-1997.