U.S. v. Winters, 00-1246
| Citation | 221 F.3d 1039 |
| Decision Date | 10 May 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-1246,00-1246 |
| Parties | (8th Cir. 2000) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, APPELLEE, v. GARY LEE WINTERS, APPELLANT. NI Submitted: |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) |
On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.
Before Richard S. Arnold and Heaney, Circuit Judges, and Sippel,1 District Judge.
Defendant Gary Lee Winters appeals from the District Court's2 denial of his motion to suppress evidence, arguing that an Iowa state trooper illegally entered his car, and that evidence from the subsequent searches is inadmissible. We hold that the Court's finding of the officer's legitimate concern for safety is not clearly erroneous, and that the smell of raw marijuana created probable cause to search the defendant's car and its containers.
At 8:00 a.m. on February 2, 1999, Rick Busch, an Iowa state trooper, observed the defendant driving his Chevy Camaro 86 miles per hour on icy roads in a 55-mile-per-hour speed zone. Trooper Busch turned on his flashing lights and pursued the defendant. The defendant continued for several hundred yards. The defendant turned into a farmyard driveway, drove his car into a snow bank, got out of the car, and started walking away from his car and toward the farmhouse. Trooper Busch, using a loudspeaker, told the defendant to stop. When the defendant stopped, Trooper Busch asked for the defendant's license, registration, and proof of insurance. The defendant informed the trooper that his license had been suspended. Trooper Busch permitted the defendant to go back to his car to search for his vehicle registration and certificate of insurance.
The defendant frantically searched for his papers on the driver's side of the Camaro, where at one point his hands disappeared under the driver's seat of his car. The defendant kept the driver's side door open while he went around the car to the passenger's side and did a similar search for his documentation. The defendant told the state trooper that he had no car insurance, but he continued looking through his car. On the passenger's side of the car, the defendant had access to a baseball bat and soft-sided attache case. Trooper Busch cautioned the defendant about reaching under the passenger seat and then put his head inside the open driver's-side door of defendant's car.
With his head inside the car, the state trooper smelled raw marijuana. The defendant could not find the requested paperwork. Trooper Busch directed the defendant to sit in the car with his hands on the steering wheel and in plain view while the trooper summoned back-up assistance. Trooper Busch went to his own vehicle, checked the defendant's history, and found that the defendant had a prior drug record and no valid driver's license. When the second state trooper arrived, the defendant was placed under arrest and given his Miranda warnings. He was charged with speeding, driving without a valid driver's license, lack of insurance, and interference with an officer. While Trooper Busch searched the defendant's car, the second trooper took the defendant to jail and checked him in, finding a plastic bag in the defendant's mouth that contained methamphetamine. When Trooper Busch was searching the defendant's car at the scene, he found marijuana residue in the defendant's attache case.
Because of the cold weather, Trooper Busch had the defendant's car taken to a service station to complete the search, which was done with the assistance of another officer and a police dog. The dog alerted the officers to the left rear quarter panel of the car. This search recovered a large quantity of amphetamine, an unknown white powdery substance, marijuana, and two loaded hand-guns, which were located in the locked trunk of the defendant's car. As a result of the traffic stop, officers searched the defendant's home pursuant to a search warrant. The search of defendant's home revealed additional...
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...... at a separate place and time.”) (citing United. States v. Winters, 221 F.3d 1039, 1041 (8th Cir. 2000));. Brown, 2009 WL 2982934, at *12 n. 22 (declining ......
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United States v. Perez-Trevino, 17-1289
...the vehicle and its contents under the "automobile exception" to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement. Accord United States v. Winters, 221 F.3d 1039, 1042 (8th Cir. 2000) ("Trooper Busch then smelled raw marijuana. This created probable cause to search the car and its containers for dr......
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