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No. 12-4879
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Roanoke.
Glen E. Conrad, Chief
District Judge. (7:11-cr-00057-GEC-1)
Argued:
Decided:
UNITED STATES
Appellee.
DEPARTMENT
OF
JUSTICE,
Washington,
D.C.,
for
or
substance
841(a)(1)
containing
and
cocaine,
(b)(1)(B).
in
Before
violation
trial,
Green
of
21
moved
charge
against
him,
preserving
the
right
to
appeal
the
plate
cars
Johnson
was
partially
blue
contacted
lights
obscured.
at
Trooper
Before
approximately
Brian
Dillon,
activating
10:07:58,
who
was
his
Trooper
driving
Johnson
explained
that
Greens
license
plate
was
already
tinted
when
he
bought
the
car.
Trooper
Johnson
the
patrol
car
so
he
could
check
Greens
license
and
he
was
in
the
entertainment
4
business.
During
this
on
up.
itinerary.
driving
Trooper
Green
to
Johnson
responded
Pittsburgh
then
that
from
he
asked
Atlanta,
and
Green
his
where
about
his
passenger
were
they
been
had
inquiry,
notifying
him
of
concealed
weapons
permit
in
going
to
check
the
tint
on
5
the
vehicle's
windows.
Upon
exiting
his
patrol
car,
Trooper
Johnson
spoke
with
Trooper
measured
Virginia
law.
At
the
window
10:17,
tint
Trooper
and
found
Johnson
that
walked
it
violated
back
to
his
patrol car and told Green that the window tint was illegal.
Trooper Johnson then asked Green whether there were any illegal
drugs in the vehicle. Green stated that there were not, but
Trooper
Johnson
testified
that
Green
began
breathing
very
Green
responded
that
he
had
beat[en]
up
few
Johnson
Pittsburgh.
At
also
asked
10:18:46,
how
Trooper
long
Johnson
Green
had
reiterated
lived
in
that
the
had a history but would not tell Trooper Johnson about it. He
stated that he was checking Greens criminal history and asked
Trooper Dillon to perform a free-air sniff of Greens vehicle
using Trooper Dillons drug-detection dog, Bono.
At 10:19:42, Trooper Johnson told Green that Trooper Dillon
was going to conduct an exterior sweep of Greens vehicle with
the dog and that he was waiting to hear back from dispatch about
the
protective
order.
Bono
alerted
to
the
vehicles
rear
officer
safety
issues
and
included
charges
for
the
troopers
began
searching
the
vehicle.
They
Green
moved
to
suppress
7
the
evidence
found
in
the
and
duration
and
that
the
delay
was
not
justified
by
Greens
motion,
holding
that
Trooper
Johnson
did
not
denied
this
motion,
concluding
that
the
record
is
were
rights.
unreasonable,
For
the
in
violation
following
contention.
reasons,
of
his
Fourth
we
reject
this
be
secure
against
in
their
unreasonable
persons,
searches
houses,
and
papers,
seizures.
and
The
effects,
stop
of
and
passengers
they
are
free
to
leave.
Arizona
v.
is
more
analogous
to
an
investigative
detention
than
966
F.2d
868,
875
(4th
Cir.
1992).
Accordingly,
we
the second prong of the Terry analysis. 1 Green argues that the
14-minute period of detention between the initial stop and the
alert by the drug-detection dog was not reasonably related in
scope to the circumstances that justified the stop. Green cites
to our decision in United States v. Digiovanni, 650 F.3d 498
(4th Cir. 2011), and argues that the scope and duration of the
detention
were
unreasonable
because
Trooper
Johnson
used
the
of
vehicle
him,
asked
Digiovanni
registration,
investigation
into
the
and
then
presence
for
his
drivers
embarked
of
drugs,
on
license
a
instead
and
sustained
of
either
Because
[o]bserving
a
traffic
violation
provides
sufficient justification for a police officer to detain the
offending vehicle for as long as it takes to perform the
traditional incidents of a routine traffic stop, United States
v. Branch, 537 F.3d 328, 335 (4th Cir. 2008), there is ample
support for the conclusion that this stop was justified at its
inception. Trooper Johnson testified that he first observed the
tinted windows on Greens vehicle, which appeared to violate
Virginia law. He further explained that he noticed that the
license plate was partially obscured when he began to call the
plate into dispatch, but the illegally tinted windows alone were
sufficient to justify the stop. See Va. Code Ann. 46.21052(C)(2) (No sun-shading or tinting films may be applied or
affixed to the front side windows of any motor vehicle operated
on the highways of this Commonwealth that reduce total light
transmittance of such window to less than 50 percent[.]).
10
check. Id. at 501-02, 509-10. The officer did not initiate the
drivers license check until after he questioned Digiovanni for
approximately 10 minutes and returned to his patrol car to radio
for back-up assistance. Id. at 510. Approximately 15 minutes
into the stop, the officer returned Digiovannis license and
issued him a warning ticket. Id. The officer then immediately
returned
to
the
subject
of
drugs
and
requested
to
search
we
explained
in
Digiovanni,
traffic
stop
must
be
run
afoul
of
the
scope
component
of
the
Terry
omitted).
routine
Although
traffic
stop
the
maximum
cannot
be
acceptable
stated
length
with
of
mathematical
it
is
prolonged
beyond
the
time
reasonably
required
to
The
reasonableness
of
stop
turns
on
whether
the
reasonable
However,
where
characterized
suspicion
a
as
delay
de
in
of
illegal
conducting
minimis
under
activity.
a
the
dog
Id.
sniff
totality
at
can
of
336.
be
the
12
this
correctly
framework,
held
that
we
the
conclude
traffic
that
stop
the
at
district
issue
was
for
traffic
initiating
violation
the
traffic
when
stop,
the
dog
Trooper
sniff
occurred.
Johnson
promptly
his
Johnson
drivers
asked
license
Green
to
and
vehicle
accompany
him
registration.
to
the
patrol
Trooper
car
and
his
dispatcher.
While
waiting
approximately
three
order
against
additional
information
him,
because,
Trooper
Johnson
as
explained
he
requested
at
the
he
waited
for
response
about
the
protective
order.
dispatch
and
requested
check
of
Greens
criminal
the
traffic
violations
did
not
run
afoul
of
the
scope
officers
justification
for
inquiries
the
into
traffic
matters
stop . . .
unrelated
do
not
to
convert
the
the
Digiovanni,
650
F.3d
at
507.
Although
the
criminal
14
includes
an
examination
of . . . whether
the
unrelated
order.
Further,
Trooper
Johnson
testified
that
with
the
protective
order
raised
concerns
about
officer safety. Given these facts, Trooper Johnson did not act
unreasonably or unnecessarily prolong Greens detention.
Finally, the criminal history check added just four minutes
to the traffic stop. Under the circumstances, we are convinced
that such a delay, at most, amounted to a de minimis intrusion
on
Greens
liberty
interest
and
thus
did
not
constitute
220. We
therefore
hold
that
the
district
court
correctly
probable
cause
to
search
Greens
vehicle.
For
the
Probable
cause
is
flexible,
common-sense
standard.
reasonably
prudent
person
think
that
search
would
cause
to
search
vehicle
when
the
defendant
has
Harris
moved
to
suppress
evidence
found
in
his
truck
probable
cause.
Id.
at
1054.
Harris
argued
that
the
any substances that the dog was trained to detect. Id. at 105859.
The
Court
rejected
Harris
contention,
holding
that
training
trust
his
program
alert,
can
and
itself
based
provide
on
this
sufficient
evidence,
reason
to
court
can
cases,
drug-detection
dogs
field
performance
has
reliability
comes
from
his
17
performance
in
controlled
The
Court
explained
that
defendant
may
challenge
the
the
drug-detection
dogs
training
and
his
proficiency
in
finding drugs. Id. at 1058. Harris responded only that the dogs
field performance showed that his alert was unreliable. See id.
The Court held that because the State had produced proof from
controlled settings that a dog performs reliably in detecting
drugs,
and
Harris
had
failed
to
undermine
that
showing
by
this
framework,
we
conclude
that
the
district
Greens
vehicle.
Green
presented
Bonos
field
performance
officers
found
direct
evidence
that
drugs
or
drug
Bonos
reliable
performance
in
training
and
certification
19
in
2007,
when
the
pair
completed
thirteen-week
drug-
in
controlled
testing
environments.
Trooper
Dillon
considering
Bonos
field
performance
records
in
Bonos
government
has
reliability
established
in
detecting
Bonos
20
drugs.
reliability
and
Because
the
Green
has
21