U.S. v. Pelayo-Ruelas

• Decision Date: 07 October 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-3056.,02-3056.
• Citation: 345 F.3d 589
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff — Appellee, v. Eduardo Pelayo-Ruelas, Defendant — Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

345 F.3d 589

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff — Appellee, v. Eduardo Pelayo-Ruelas, Defendant — Appellant.

No. 02-3056.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: May 12, 2003.

Filed: October 7, 2003.

Manvir Kaur Atwal, argued, Minneapolis, MN, for appellant.

Nathan P. Petterson, argued, Asst. U.S. Atty., Minneapolis, MN, appellee.

Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, BRIGHT and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

LOKEN, Chief Judge.

A jury convicted Eduardo Pelayo-Ruelas of possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846. Pelayo appeals the district court's¹ denial of his motion to suppress statements made after Pelayo identified himself as an illegal alien and a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent asked him to exit his vehicle and conducted a pat down search. Pelayo argues he was in custody when he exited the vehicle and therefore further questioning without Miranda warnings violated his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. Neither party appeals the 120-month sentence imposed by the district court. We conclude that the questioning was part of a valid Terry stop and that Pelayo was not in custody, for Miranda purposes, when he made the statements. Therefore, we affirm.

A reliable informant advised DEA Special Agent Adam Castilleja that a tan Toyota Camry with Minnesota license plates and occupied by two Hispanic males would arrive from the State of Washington between 6:00 and 9:00 a.m. the next morning. The informant further stated the vehicle would have multiple pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside, one of the occupants would be named "Eduardo," and the car would be traveling to a Super 8 Motel in the Minneapolis area to meet another vehicle before delivering the drugs to a storage facility in St. Paul.

The next morning, DEA agents alerted Agent Castilleja that a tan Camry with Minnesota plates had arrived at the Super 8 Motel in suburban Crystal at 8:45 a.m., and two Hispanic occupants had entered the motel. While traveling to the Super 8, Agent Castilleja learned that the vehicle was registered to a false address. At 10:15 a.m., a Hispanic male left the motel in the Camry, followed by Agent Castilleja. The Camry proceeded down a service road to a dead end and stopped. Agent Castilleja parked his unmarked vehicle near the Camry, and another unmarked police car pulled up and parked behind Agent Castilleja's vehicle. The police cars did not block the Camry's exit path. The agent in the second vehicle remained by his car while Agent Castilleja, dressed in plain clothes, approached the Camry and identified himself as a DEA agent. The ensuing conversation was in Spanish.

The driver produced a Washington State card identifying him as Eduardo Pelayo-Ruelas. Agent Castilleja asked why Pelayo had a Washington driver's license but was driving a vehicle with Minnesota license plates. Pelayo responded that he was in the country illegally and currently lived in Washington. Agent Castilleja asked Pelayo to step out of the vehicle, conducted a brief pat down search for weapons, and continued the conversation regarding Pelayo's presence in Minnesota. Pelayo explained that he had driven from Washington at the request of a friend who accompanied him on the trip. Pelayo said he was on his way to his uncle's house but could not produce the uncle's address or telephone number. During the conversation, Agent Castilleja observed tools in the back seat of the Camry that, in the agent's experience, are often used to extract drugs from hidden compartments in vehicles.

Agent Castilleja then asked Pelayo for written consent to search the vehicle. He explained the consent form and told Pelayo that consent was voluntary and could be retracted at any time. Pelayo consented and signed the form. At approximately 10:45 a.m., the agent called for a drug detection dog. When the dog alerted to the rear bumper, Agent Castilleja placed Pelayo under arrest and advised him of his Miranda rights in Spanish. Pelayo declined to talk further without an attorney.

Before trial, adopting the recommendation of the magistrate judge, the district court suppressed statements that Pelayo made from the time he was removed from the vehicle until his arrest on the ground that Pelayo was then in custody and had not been advised of his Miranda rights. However, after hearing Agent Castilleja's testimony at trial, the district court reversed its decision and allowed the statements into evidence. On appeal, Pelayo argues the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress because he was in custody once Agent Castilleja removed him from the vehicle and conducted a pat down search. His Miranda rights were triggered at that point, Pelayo argues in his brief, because a reasonable person in those circumstances would not have felt free to leave.

In Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), the Supreme Court held that a law enforcement officer, prior to conducting custodial interrogation, must advise the suspect of his right to be free from compulsory self-incrimination and to the assistance of counsel. Following Miranda, the Supreme Court held in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), that a police officer with reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot may briefly detain a suspect to investigate the circumstances giving rise to that suspicion.

In Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 439-40, 104 S.Ct. 3138, 82 L.Ed.2d 317 (1984), a traffic stop case, the Court discussed the interaction between the custodial interrogation principle of Miranda and the brief-detention-to-investigate principle of Terry:

The [Terry] stop and inquiry must be reasonably related in scope to the justification for their initiation. Typically, this means that the officer may ask the detainee a moderate number of questions to determine his identity and to try to obtain information confirming or dispelling the officer's suspicions. But the detainee is not obliged to respond. And, unless the detainee's answers provide the officer with probable cause to arrest him, he must then be released. The comparatively nonthreatening character of detentions of this sort explains the absence of any suggestion in our opinions that Terry stops are subject to the dictates of Miranda. The similarly noncoercive aspect of ordinary traffic stops prompts us to hold that persons...