United States v. Hurtt
| Decision Date | 13 April 2022 |
| Docket Number | 20-2494 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. Jamel HURTT, Appellant |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Leigh M. Skipper, Brett G. Sweitzer [ARGUED], Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 601 Walnut Street, Ste. 540 West, Philadelphia, PA 19106, Counsel for Appellant
Matthew T. Newcomer [ARGUED], Office of United States Attorney, 615 Chestnut Street, Ste. 1250, Philadelphia, PA 19106, Counsel for Appellee
Before: McKEE, JORDAN, and FUENTES, Circuit Judges.
We are asked to decide whether police officers violated the Fourth Amendment when they seized Jamel Hurtt during the course of a traffic stop of a truck in which he was a passenger. Upon stopping the truck, the officers proceeded to investigate whether the driver was intoxicated. Hurtt was arrested for illegal possession of a firearm when one of the officers involved in the stop discovered he was carrying a gun. For the reasons that follow, we hold that the District Court erred in denying Hurtt's motion to suppress the evidence that was obtained during that stop, and we remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Around 2:00 a.m. on February 23, 2019, Philadelphia Police Officers Lance Cannon and Daniel Gonzalez were patrolling North Philadelphia's 35th District, an area both officers described as "very violent."1 They saw a two-door pickup truck roll through a stop sign and fail to signal a turn.2 After they pulled the truck over, Officer Cannon approached the truck on the driver's side and Gonzalez approached on the passenger's side.3 Three people were in the truck: a driver, a front seat passenger, and, in the backseat, Jamel Hurtt.4
The driver and front seat passenger both rolled down their windows. As Cannon collected the license, registration, and keys from the driver, the officers smelled alcohol.5 The front seat passenger was heavily intoxicated and voluble, and Hurtt, from behind, attempted to calm and quiet him.6 When Cannon asked the intoxicated passenger for identification, Hurtt volunteered his as well.7 The officers asked the driver to step out for a sobriety test.8 He complied and left the door open as he got out of the truck. Uninvited and without apparent justification, Cannon then "physically [went] into [the truck], partially put[ting his] body into the cabin of the truck" through the open door.9 He eventually climbed further into the truck, placing both knees on the driver's seat.10 During the subsequent suppression hearing, he explained that he did so for the purpose of "engag[ing]" with the passengers.11
While inside, Cannon "look[ed] around" and pointed his flashlight "back and forth around the vehicle."12 He testified that the inside was messy, with tools strewn about and a five-gallon bucket on the driver-side rear seat.13 While still inside the truck, he noticed that the front seat passenger was trying to divert attention away from Hurtt "by making some kind of movement or sound or something."14 Cannon instructed the two passengers to keep their hands visible three times,15 but they did not comply and kept putting their hands in their pockets or the front of their pants as they complained of the cold February weather.16 Cannon then got out of the truck and began walking around to the passenger side. At some point, "[r]ight before [he] walked around, [he] knew [he] needed to get them out of the [truck]."17 After he walked around the front of the truck to the passenger's side, Cannon ordered the front seat passenger out.18
While Cannon was inside the truck, Gonzalez was administering the field sobriety test to the driver behind the tailgate of the truck.19 He asked a series of questions about what the driver had been drinking, where he worked, and who the passengers were.20 As Gonzalez was conducting this inquiry, he did not appear to notice, at first, that Cannon was inside the truck.21 However, Gonzalez did eventually notice that Cannon was inside the truck after he (Gonzalez) had questioned the driver for about a minute.22 When Gonzalez noticed Cannon and the predicament he had placed himself in by placing his body inside the truck, Gonzalez paused his sobriety check out of concern for Cannon's safety.23 Gonzalez testified:
It was 2 o'clock in the morning. My partner has two unknown occupants in the vehicle. So [the] first thing in my mind was to put [the driver] in the back of [the patrol car] and get back to my partner, try to clear the two males[, i.e., the passengers,] before we could get back to doing the field sobriety test.24
Although he had not yet run the driver's license or vehicle identification, or finished the sobriety test, Gonzalez put the driver in the patrol car and went to help clear the passengers.25 He reached the truck a little more than a minute after pausing his investigation, at which point Cannon had begun getting the front seat passenger out of the truck.26
At the same time, while still in the truck, Hurtt turned his back to Cannon and reached toward the tool bucket on the seat next to him.27 Cannon immediately instructed him to show his hands; Hurtt responded by putting his hands up and saying, "I'm cool."28 During that exchange, Gonzalez was helping the intoxicated front seat passenger get out of the truck.29 Hurtt then reached for the bucket a second time, but Cannon caught his arm ordered him out of the truck.30 Hurtt complied. Cannon then searched him and found a loaded handgun in his waistband.31
The officers then summoned a backup patrol car and arrested Hurtt. Thereafter, Hurtt made several statements to the officers during a conversation that occurred without any Miranda warnings.32 After Hurtt was placed in the backup patrol car, Gonzalez determined that the driver was not legally intoxicated.33 Although a computer check revealed that his driver's license had been suspended, the officers permitted him and the front seat passenger to drive away without issuing any citations.34 The road-side incident, as captured by Gonzalez's body camera, lasted sixteen minutes and thirty-three seconds from start to finish. The video mirrors the District Court's factfinding.
A federal grand jury subsequently indicted Hurtt on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).35 Before trial, Hurtt moved to suppress the seized handgun and ammunition. He made several arguments in support of his motion to suppress. He argued that Gonzalez could have completed the sobriety test sooner and that the officers strayed from a lawful traffic stop when Cannon entered the truck and searched him.36 He also argued that, even if the stop were extended lawfully, the officers lacked reasonable suspicion to search him because there was no bulge in his waistband and because Cannon's "furtiveness" testimony was not credible.37 The District Court rejected all of these arguments.
The District Court reasoned that "the evidence show[ed] that neither the traffic stop nor the DUI investigation had ended when Officer Cannon searched Mr. Hurtt."38 The Court credited Gonzalez's testimony that he placed the driver in the cruiser so that he (Gonzalez) could help ensure Cannon's safety.39 The Court then reasoned that Cannon conducted a lawful search because he "was justified in looking into the vehicle to maintain the safety of the officers and passengers during the open investigations."40 The Court further held that the search of Hurtt was "part of a lawful extension of the traffic stop" because Hurtt engaged in "evasive and non-compliant conduct[, which] constituted ... traffic-related ‘safety concerns.’ "41 Finally, the Court concluded that, "even if the traffic stop was not lawfully extended (which it was), ... the officers did have reasonable suspicion to conduct the frisk of Mr. Hurtt[,]" based on his "evasive or furtive conduct."42
Hurtt ultimately pled guilty but preserved his ability to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress.43 He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.44 This timely appeal followed.
A traffic stop, even if brief and for a limited purpose, "constitutes a ‘seizure’ of ‘persons’ within the meaning of [the Fourth Amendment]."46 Such a seizure does not violate the Fourth Amendment, however, if it is reasonable.47 A police officer's decision to stop a vehicle is reasonable if he or she "ha[s] probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred."48 Any subsequent investigation "must be ‘reasonably related in scope to the’ " reasons for the stop.49 Even if an officer lawfully stops a suspect at first, "it could become ‘unreasonable,’ and thus violate the Constitution's proscription [against unreasonable searches and seizures], at some later time."50 If an extension of a stop prolongs it "beyond the time reasonably required to complete th[e] mission of issuing a ticket for the violation," the resulting delay must be supported by reasonable suspicion.51 When reviewing an allegation that a traffic stop started out properly but later was improperly extended, we "look[ ] to the facts and circumstances confronting [the officer] to determine whether his or her actions during the stop were reasonable."52
In Rodriguez v. United States , the Supreme Court established a test for judging the lawfulness of an extension of a traffic stop. There, the Court held that "a police stop exceeding the time needed to handle the matter for which the stop was made violates the Constitution's shield against unreasonable seizures."53 Thus, "a seizure justified only by a police-observed traffic violation, ... ‘becomes unlawful if it is prolonged beyond the time reasonably required to complete the mission.’ "54
We considered that test at length in United States v. Green .55 There, we held that "[a]n unreasonable extension occurs when an officer, without reasonable...
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