U.S. v. Ramirez-Gonzalez, RAMIREZ-GONZALE

• Citation: 87 F.3d 712
• Decision Date: 28 June 1996
• Docket Number: No. 94-60587,D,RAMIREZ-GONZALE,94-60587
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Pabloefendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

Page 712

87 F.3d 712

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Pablo RAMIREZ-GONZALEZ, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 94-60587.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

June 28, 1996.

Alice Ann Burns, Paula C. Offenhauser, Asst. U.S. Attys., Gaynelle Griffin Jones, U.S. Atty., Houston, TX, for appellant.

H. Michael Sokolow, Asst. Federal Public Defender, Roland E. Dahlin, II, Federal Public Defender, Houston, TX, Noe D. Garza, Jr., Brownsville, TX, John L. Carrington, Harlingen, TX, for appellee.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before KING, DeMOSS, and STEWART, Circuit Judges.

STEWART, Circuit Judge:

The United States appeals the granting of Ramirez-Gonzalez's motion to suppress evidence seized at a temporary motor vehicle checkpoint. Because we conclude that the record is insufficiently developed for our review of the constitutional question raised, we VACATE and REMAND to the district court for further proceedings.

FACTS

"Operation Gauntlet" was a multi-agency law enforcement effort planned in three or four meetings by several law enforcement agencies. Apparently, the Customs Service was under the impression that this was a drug-interdiction effort, but some of the local agencies involved believed that it was a multi-purpose effort. In any case, as a result of these meetings, the Nueces County Precinct Two Constable's office operated two criminal On January 29, 1994, around 1:30 a.m., a red Chevrolet pickup truck with a camper and a Chevrolet Blazer together approached one of the checkpoints and were stopped. Ramirez-Gonzalez was a passenger in, and the owner of, the Blazer. Deputy Constable Robert Smith requested driver's licenses and other documents from both drivers. He then noticed several people in the bed of the pickup. ¹ No one in either vehicle spoke English, and the law enforcement officers at the checkpoint did not speak Spanish. Smith was not sure whether he had been given consent to search, so Border Patrol agents were sent for to help with translation and identification.

                law enforcement checkpoints near Corpus Christi, Texas, for three days in January 1994.  The checkpoints were identified by large traffic signs posted over 100 yards away which read "Drug Interdiction Checkpoint."   They were operated only at night, between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.  Marked police cars were present at the checkpoints and had their emergency lights on.  Vehicles traveling in all directions through the intersections were stopped and the drivers were asked to produce their driver's licenses and proofs of insurance.  The officers usually asked for permission to search the vehicles;  but if no consent was given, the vehicle was allowed to proceed unless the officers believed they had reasonable suspicion to search the vehicle.  During the three days the constable's office operated the two checkpoints, the officers stopped 817 vehicles, searched 103 vehicles, issued 33 traffic citations, arrested 150 undocumented aliens, and arrested 7 people for possession of controlled substances
                

Both vehicles were detained between 10 and 25 minutes before the Border Patrol arrived and determined that five passengers in the Blazer and fifteen passengers in the pickup were illegal aliens. As a result, Ramirez-Gonzalez was charged with several illegal immigrations charges. Ramirez-Gonzalez filed a motion to suppress evidence obtained when he was stopped at the checkpoint, alleging that the stop was an illegal seizure without reasonable suspicion in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.

The district court preliminarily denied the motion at the suppression hearing, but agreed to consider the parties' supplemental briefs on the issue. Ramirez-Gonzalez pled guilty to one of the counts, and the government dismissed the others. At the sentencing hearing held after the parties had filed their supplemental briefs, the court again denied Ramirez-Gonzalez's motion, but ruled that it would permit him to reopen the issue. Subsequently, Ramirez-Gonzalez filed a motion to postpone entry of the judgement, a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, and a motion for rehearing of the suppression issue. The district court granted the motions and reversed its earlier ruling, suppressed the evidence obtained from the checkpoint stop. ² The government appealed the new ruling, the trial was ordered stayed pending resolution of the appeal, and Ramirez-Gonzalez was released on bond pending appeal.

DISCUSSION

Because this is an appeal by the United States from a decision suppressing evidence before the verdict and before the defendant has been put in jeopardy, this court has jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3731. United States v. Ceccolini, 435 U.S. 268, 271 n. 1, 98 S.Ct. 1054, 1057-58 n. 1, 55 L.Ed.2d 268 (1978).

At issue in this case is the extent to which law enforcement may employ a temporary checkpoint. Any resolution of this issue necessarily entails a review of the Supreme Court precedent with reference to temporary checkpoints.

A Fourth Amendment Seizure

Stopping a vehicle and detaining its occupants constitutes a seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, even though the purpose of the stop is limited and the resulting detention quite brief." Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 653, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 1396, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979). The issue then becomes whether such a seizure was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment because "[t]he essential purpose of the proscription in the Fourth Amendment is to impose a standard of 'reasonableness' upon the exercise of discretion by government officials in order to 'safeguard the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasion.' " Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. at 653-54, 99 S.Ct. at 1396 (citation omitted). Thus, the permissibility of a particular law enforcement practice is judged by balancing its intrusion on the individual's Fourth Amendment interests against its promotion of legitimate governmental interests. Id. at 654, 99 S.Ct. at 1396.

A checkpoint does not violate the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution so long as the balance of the State's interest, the extent to which the checkpoint can reasonably advance that interest, and the degree of intrusion upon individual motorists who are briefly stopped, tilts in favor of the checkpoint program. See Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 50-51, 99 S.Ct. 2637, 2640-41, 61 L.Ed.2d 357 (1979). The Supreme Court has found two such checkpoints to be reasonable: (1) a temporary checkpoint intended to deter and detect drunk drivers and set up pursuant to a detailed committee plan (Michigan State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444, 449, 110 S.Ct. 2481, 2484-85, 110 L.Ed.2d 412 (1990)), and (2) a permanent checkpoint set up to detect illegal aliens (United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116 (1976)). The Court has also recognized that a state has a substantial interest in enforcing licensing and registration laws, though that interest is not substantial enough to justify roving patrol stops as an enforcement mechanism. See Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. at 658, 99 S.Ct. at 1398-99.

United States v. Martinez-Fuerte

In United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, the Court resolved a circuit split about the constitutionality of permanent immigration checkpoints operated by the Border Patrol, and instituted to interdict the flow of illegal entrants from Mexico. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. at 552, 96 S.Ct. at 3080. As established by previous cases, the Court noted various estimates showing a large number of illegal immigrants, as well as formidable law enforcement problems in interdicting the flow of illegal immigrants. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. at 551-52, 96 S.Ct. at 3080 (citing United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. 873, 878, 95 S.Ct. 2574, 2578-79, 45 L.Ed.2d 607 (1975)). In developing these permanent checkpoints, the Border Patrol felt that the checkpoints were most effective when (1) distant enough from the border to avoid interference with traffic in populated areas near the border, (2) close to the confluence of two or more significant roads leading away from the border, (3) situated in terrain that restricts vehicle passage around the checkpoint, (4) on a stretch of highway compatible with safe operation, and (5) beyond the 25-mile zone in which "border passes" are valid. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. at 553, 96 S.Ct. at 3080-81. The Court then looked to the specifics of one of the two cases it was considering and found that the record provided a rather complete picture of the effectiveness of the permanent checkpoint: in one eight-day period, Border Patrol agents found 725 deportable aliens in 171 vehicles. The Court considered the purpose of the checkpoint stops and recognized that the maintenance of a traffic-checking program in the interior was necessary because the flow of illegal aliens could not be effectively controlled at the border. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. at 556, 96 S.Ct. at 3082.

As balanced against this need, the Court found that the consequent intrusion on Fourth Amendment interests was limited. While the stop intruded to a limited extent on motorists' right to "free passage without interruption," and arguably on their right to personal security, it involved only a brief detention during which all that was required of the vehicle's occupants was a response to a brief question or two and possibly the production of a document evidencing a right to be in the United States. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. at 556, 96 S.Ct. at 3082. Neither the vehicle nor its occupants were searched without probable cause, and visual inspection of the vehicle was limited to what could be seen without a search. Id. at 556, 96 S.Ct. at 3082.

Michigan State Police v. Sitz

In Sitz, the Court considered the constitutionality of a...