United States v. Lopez-Tubac, No. 18-3123 (8th Cir. 2019)
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The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress evidence after he conditionally pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful use of identification documents. In this case, ICE officers determined that defendant was not the suspect that they were in fact looking for, but the officers learned during an investigatory stop that defendant had been previously charged with an immigration offense.
The court held that the officer had a reasonable suspicion that the initial suspect had committed a crime and that the suspect lived at the residence where defendant was arrested because the suspect listed the address as his residence and had a car registered to the address. Furthermore, it was not unreasonable for the officer to mistake defendant for the actual suspect in light of the circumstances. Therefore, the officer's mistake was not objectively unreasonable and he had reasonable suspicion to stop defendant.
Court Description: Gruender, Author, with Benton and Shepherd, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. Defendant was arrested in a case of mistaken identity and moved to suppress evidence seized after his seizure; first, the officer had probable cause to believe that the actual suspect had committed a crime - being illegally present in the U.S; the officer had reasonable suspicion to believe the actual suspect lived at the residence where defendant was arrested; nor was it unreasonable for the officer to mistake defendant for the actual suspect; because the officer's mistake was objectively reasonable, he had reasonable suspicion to stop defendant and the evidence seized during the investigatory stop was not the fruit of a constitutional violation.
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