United States v. Heir

107 F. Supp. 2d 1088, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12294, 2000 WL 1100441
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nebraska
DecidedAugust 1, 2000
Docket4:99CR3026
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 107 F. Supp. 2d 1088 (United States v. Heir) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nebraska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Heir, 107 F. Supp. 2d 1088, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12294, 2000 WL 1100441 (D. Neb. 2000).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

KOPF, Chief Judge.

This matter is before the court on the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation (filing 53) and the objections to the Report and Recommendation filed by Defendant (filing 54) and Plaintiff (filing 55). Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) and NELR 72.4, I have conducted a de novo review of the portions of the Report and Recommendation to which objections have been made.

I find that inasmuch as Judge Piester has fully, carefully, and correctly found the facts and applied the law, the Report and Recommendation (filing 53) should be adopted, the parties’ objections (filings 54, *1090 55) should be denied, and Defendant’s motion to suppress (filing 11) should be granted. I will briefly comment on my reasons for such findings.

I. Defendant’s Objections

Defendant, Timothy W. Heir (“Heir”), objects to Magistrate Judge Piester’s conclusion that Trooper Duis had a reasonable, articulable suspicion for continuing to detain Defendant after completing the traffic stop (see Report and Recommendation pp. 6-7), and to his assumption that Robbie was a “well-trained narcotics detection dog” (see Report and Recommendation pp. 7-12).

A. Continued Detention

Heir argues that the facts of this case are indistinguishable from those presented in United States v. Beck, 140 F.3d 1129 (8th Cir.1998). I disagree. The distinguishing facts are that Heir’s explanation for his travel by car from California to Minnesota was inherently suspicious, and that Heir’s behavior changed markedly after the radio dispatch came in regarding his criminal history. Heir had a California driver’s license and was driving a vehicle which he rented from the Los An-geles airport. He told Trooper Duis that he had flown to California from Minnesota, where he now lived, to check on some pet damage to a carpet in a rental property that he owned. He said, that he was driving back to Minnesota because he did not like to fly. Heir was relaxed during this conversation, which took place in the patrol car. His demeanor changed as soon as Trooper Duis asked if he had been arrested before. Heir nervously stated that he had an old arrest for DUI. His nervousness increased when the radio dispatch indicated that Heir’s record contained a bribery conviction and a charge of transporting narcotics. He fidgeted in the seat, was breathing hard, and became inattentive to Trooper Duis’ questions. ' As noted by Magistrate Judge Piester, this is a close question, but I agree with his conclusion that Trooper Duis was acting upon a reasonable, articulable suspicion rather than a mere hunch when he detained Heir for the purpose of conducting the canine sniff of the exterior of the vehicle. Compare United States v. Kirkpatrick , 5 F.Supp.2d 1045 (D.Neb.1998).

Furthermore, the evidence in this case establishes that the detention was quite brief. After completing the traffic stop and issuing Heir a warning ticket for crossing the yellow shoulder line and following too closely, Trooper Duis informed Heir that he was free to go but that Duis would like to ask him a few more questions. Heir agreed and stayed in the patrol car. Duis asked Heir if he had any drugs in the car. Heir looked at the car and shook his head. Duis asked if he could search the car. Heir said, “No.” Duis then informed Heir that he would be detained while Duis walked his dog, Robbie, around the car. Duis had Heir stand by the front passenger side of the patrol car while he got Robbie out of the back seat. He walked Robbie around Heir’s rented vehicle three times in a span of about ninety seconds. He then informed Heir that Robbie had detected the odor of drugs coming from the vehicle and that Duis was going to conduct a search. After a search of the trunk revealed what appeared to be controlled substances, Heir was placed under arrest.

In United States v. $404,905.00 in U.S. Currency, 182 F.3d 643 (8th Cir.1999), ce rt. denied, Alexander v. United States, — U.S.-, 120 S.Ct. 1175, 145 L.Ed.2d 1083 (2000), the Court of Appeals held that a two-minute canine sniff of the exterior of a vehicle following a traffic stop was not an unreasonable detention, and, because it was not a search, did not require that the officer have reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot. As stated by the Court: “[W]hen a police officer makes a traffic stop and has at his immediate disposal the canine resources to employ this uniquely limited investigative procedure, it does not violate the Fourth Amendment to require that the offending motorist’s detention be momentarily extended for a canine sniff of the vehicle’s *1091 exterior.” Id. at 649. This decision is controlling here and requires a finding that the canine sniff was not unconstitutional.

B. Canine’s Training

Magistrate Judge Piester assumed, without deciding, that Robbie was a “well-trained narcotics detection dog.” Heir challenges this assumption and contends that the records of Robbie’s deployments show that he was demonstrably wrong 41% of the time. The government counters by stating that the same records demonstrate that Robbie had a 92% accuracy rating. Because I agree with Magistrate Judge Piester’s determination that the canine sniff did not provide probable cause for the search, I also find it unnecessary to assess Robbie’s qualifications.

II. Plaintiffs Objections

The government objects to the Report and Recommendation insofar as it concludes that there was not probable cause for the search and that any evidence and statements obtained as a result of the search should be suppressed. It specifically objects to Magistrate Judge Piester’s statement that the dog merely showed an “interest” in the vehicle, to his reliance upon the testimony of Defendants’ experts as opposed to Plaintiffs experts, and to his conclusion that “alert” behavior by a canine, as opposed to a positive “indication” of drugs, is insufficient to support a finding of probable cause.

A. Lack of Probable Cause

After reviewing the extensive testimony that was presented to Magistrate Judge Piester and watching the videotape of the canine sniff (Exhibit 101), I agree with his determination that dog’s actions did not positively signal the presence of drugs inside the vehicle. Trooper Duis testified that in this case Robbie “alerted” to the presence of drugs by sniffing more intensely around certain areas of the car, but he acknowledged that such “alert” behavior was subtle and might only be recognized by himself or another person who wás familiar with Robbie’s tendencies. Although Robbie was trained to “indicate” (by scratching) when he located the strongest source of the‘drug odor, he did not do so in this case. Defendants’ experts testified that the “alert” behavior described by Trooper Duis could easily be attributed to his “cuing” of the animal, either intentionally or unintentionally, by changing the leash from one hand to the other, by stopping, by blocking the way, or by other actions.

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Bluebook (online)
107 F. Supp. 2d 1088, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12294, 2000 WL 1100441, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-heir-ned-2000.