United States v. Summers

153 F. Supp. 3d 1261, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 170865, 2015 WL 9413135
District Court, S.D. California·Decided December 22, 2015·No. CASE NO. 15cr716-WQH·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

ORDER

HAYES, Judge:

The matters before the Court are: (1) the motion to suppress evidence obtained at an unconstitutional checkpoint; and (2) the motion to suppress evidence obtained by an unconstitutional trunk search (ECF Nos. 53-1, 53-2 and 67-1, 67-2).

I. Background Facts1

The United States Border Patrol, El Centro Sector operates the Highway 86 checkpoint near Westmorland, California. The Highway 86 checkpoint is a permanent checkpoint staffed solely by Border Patrol agents. During the past three-year period, there were approximately 1,746 apprehensions at the checkpoint, approximately 1,579 were immigration related and approximately 167 were drug-related.

On February 28,.2015, at approximately 8:30 p.m., Defendant Kenneth Summers approached the Highway 86 checkpoint in a black Volkswagen Jetta. Defendant sat behind the wheel, and his son sat in the passenger seat. Defendant pulled up to the primary inspection point and stopped at the marked stop sign. United States Border Patrol Agent Stephen Stypinski identified himself as a- Border Patrol agent and asked Defendant for his citizenship status. Defendant responded that he was a United States citizen.

While Agent Stypinski questioned the Defendant, United States Border Patrol Agent Aaron Miranda and his canine partner, Boeli, walked behind the vehicle. A video of the primary area shows that Boeli sniffed the trunk of the Jetta from the drivers side to the passenger side and paused for a few seconds in front of Agent Miranda. Agént Miranda and Boeli then proceeded toward the front passenger side of the vehicle. Agent Miranda testified that he asked Agent Stypinski to have the Defendant open the trunk as he approached the passenger side door. Agent Stypinski testified that he complied with Agent Miranda’s request. Agent Stypinski testified, “I don’t remember the exact words. It was probably something like, can you open the trunk, can I search the trunk, along those lines.” (ECF No, 111 at 15). Defendant testified, “I am not exactly sure. [Agent Stypinski] said, pop the trunk. He said, roll down the back window, roll down the back window, and then he said, pop the trunk or open the trunk.” Id. at 130. Defendant testified that he interpreted Agent Stypin-ski’s statement as an order and that he did not feel that he had a choice.

Defendant attempted to open the trunk from the inside of his car,' but he was unable to do so. While Defendant was attempting to find the lever insider the vehi[1264] cle to open the trunk, Agent Miranda and Boeli walked back to the rear of the vehicle. The video shows that Agent Miranda attempted to open the trunk as he arrived back at the rear of the vehicle but that the trunk had not released. The video 'shows that Boeli stopped behind the driver side of the trunk and continued to sniff at the trunk area for approximately twenty seconds.

Agent Stypinski requested that the Defendant move to the secondary area. The encounter at primary, recorded on the video, took approximately 40 seconds. Defendant proceeded past the designated parking spots in the secondary area marked with white lines and pulled over to the side of the road past the parking spots. Agent Eric Hanna walked over the driver’s side of the vehicle and asked the Defendant to open his trunk. Agent Hanna testified, “It is in a form of a request, along the lines of, are you able to open the trunk from there?” Id. at 31. Defendant used his key fob to release the trunk hatch. Agent Hanna opened the trunk and found two persons concealed in the trunk. Agent Hanna ordered Defendant out of his car, handcuffed him, and frisked him. Defendant was placed under arrest.

Defendant is charged in an indictment with transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain and aiding and abetting in violation of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii), (v)(II), and (a)(1)(B)(I). (ECF No. 19).

At the evidentiary hearing, Agent Miranda testified that he was trained as the canine handler for Boeli and that he has been Boeli’s handler for five years, including 5,000 hours of field experience. Agent Miranda testified that he and Boeli initially received an eight-week training course, and that he and Boeli train together on a biweekly basis. Agent Miranda testified that he and Boeli have received a United States Border Patrol Detection Team Certification for the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Plaintiff submitted Boeli’s training records, including Performance Standard Score Sheets.

Agent Miranda testified that Boeli is trained to find things by their odor, including concealed humans, marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine, and all derivatives of those drugs. Agent Miranda testified that when Boeli comes across an odor that he is trained to find “he changes posture, his demeanor. His breathing changes. He tenses up, starts breathing out his nose, closes his mouth. His whole body changes up.” Id. at 41. Agent Miranda testified that he describes this change in Boeli’s behavior as “an alert.” Id. In addition to an alert, Agent Miranda testified that Boeli is trained to try to “find exactly where the odor is coming from” which Agent Miranda describes as “an indication.” Id. Agent Miranda testified that he has tried to train Boeli to sit in order to indicate that he smelled an odor he was trained to detect but that Boeli has been unable sit in order to indicate. Agent Miranda testified that alert behavior is different from indication behavior. Agent Miranda testified that Boeli will try to sit for indication behavior but that “he is a different kind of breed of dog, so he’ll start back peddling and is barking because he is ready for me to give him his toy.” Id. at 42. Agent Miranda testified that indication behavior is not required to find an alert.

Agent Miranda testified that Boeli is trained to detect concealed people in different scenarios including inside a moving vehicle. Agent Miranda testified that Boeli can “distinguish cars with people in them from cars with concealed people in them.” Id. at 44. Agent Miranda testified that “I am not an instructor, so I don’t really know how they do the training or how he does it. It amazes me too, but it works.” Id. Agent Miranda testified that on a typi[1265] cal day thousands of cars come through the checkpoint and that Boeli could alert “anywhere from two to six or seven” times. Id. at 46. Agent Miranda testified that Boeli has found “five to seven human beings and twelve narcotics busts” over their five-year career. Id. at 105.

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United States v. Summers, 153 F. Supp. 3d 1261, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 170865, 2015 WL 9413135 (S.D. Cal. 2015).

153 F. Supp. 3d 1261 (United States v. Summers) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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