United States v. Duenas, No. 15-2637 (7th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseA confidential informant arranged to purchase cocaine at Duenas’s garage. Trailed by federal agents, the informant drove to the garage, parked, entered (with the consent of Duenas, the owner), and discussed the transaction. He left, ostensibly to get money from his car. He drove a short distance, parked, and phoned agents to report that there was cocaine in the garage, in Rivera’s truck. Agents arrived, arrested Duenas outside the open garage and Rivera. They searched the garage and seized two kilograms of cocaine. Between the informant’s departure and their arrival, about three minutes elapsed. The court denied a motion to suppress, citing “consent once removed.” If an informant is invited to a place by someone who has authority to invite him, and the informant, on the premises, discovers probable cause to make an arrest or search and immediately summons law enforcement officers, the occupant of the place to which they are summoned is deemed to have consented to their presence. The defendants pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess and distribute cocaine, 21 U.S.C. 846, 841(a). The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The search and arrests invaded no protected right of privacy; pausing to obtain warrants would have risked the disappearance of the contraband. An attempt to obtain warrants before the informant phoned might have been denied for lack of probable cause,
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