United States v. Givens, No. 13-2713 (8th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseDefendant, convicted of a firearms and a possession charge, appealed the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained during a traffic stop of his vehicle and the evidence obtained during a search of his apartment. The court concluded that the officer had an objectively reasonable basis for justifying the stop of the vehicle. The court concluded that because defendant's vehicle did not have metal license plates and lacked a readily apparent temporary paper registration card, the officer had reasonable suspicion that the vehicle did not comply with state law. Therefore, the officer had a reasonable basis justifying the stop of the vehicle and the district court did not err in denying the motion to suppress evidence recovered from the vehicle. The court also concluded that the district court did not err in denying the motion to suppress evidence recovered from the apartment where, at the time of the dog sniff, the officer was objectively reasonable in relying on binding precedent. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
Court Description: Criminal case - Criminal law. Where a police officer could not determine whether the paper in the rear window of defendant's vehicle was a valid temporary registration card, he had reasonable suspicion to make a traffic stop; at the time the officer used a drug dog to perform a sniff in the hallway outside defendant's apartment the officer was objectively reasonable in believing binding circuit precedent permitted the dog's use in such circumstances.
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