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D.Utah: No RS; every highway in Utah is now a drug pipleline, based on prior cases

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Reasonable suspicion for continued detention in a traffic stop was not present, but it became consensual. What is important here is what was not reasonable suspicion that was quickly dispatched by the court. United States v. Morales, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99043 (D. Utah December 8, 2008): The government points to the following facts to support Sergeant Nixon's claim of reasonable suspicion: (1) Mr. Morales' extreme nervousness from the inception of the stop to the end; (2) Defendants had only stayed one night in California before traveling back to Michigan, yet they had "quite a bit of luggage;" (3) the person to whom the vehicle was registered was not present; (4) the vehicle was already registered and licensed in the state of Michigan (carrying a Michigan license plate), although it had been purchased in California just two days before; and (5) the Defendants were traveling on a known drug pipeline...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on December 10, 2008 (boomark / email).