United States v. Soza, No. 10-2196 (10th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseDefendant Isaac Soza appealed the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence seized in a traffic stop. In 2007, a patrol officer stopped Defendant's car for speeding. A criminal database check revealed that Defendant had been driving on a revoked license and had an outstanding felony warrant with an "arrest clause." After taking Defendant into custody, officers searched the vehicle. They found a handgun and a plastic bag containing a substance consistent with methamphetamine. Defendant was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He moved to suppress the evidence seized from his vehicle, relying on "Arizona v. Gant." The government responded that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applied because "Gant" had not been decided at the time Defendant's vehicle was searched. The Tenth Circuit found that indeed, "Gant" had not been decided at the time of Defendant's arrest. But because the search of Defendant's vehicle was permissible under binding circuit precedent at the time it occurred, the Court held that the district court correctly denied the motion to suppress.
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