United States v. Demilia, No. 14-1015 (8th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseThe government appealed the district court's grant of defendants' motions to suppress evidence seized during a search of a vehicle. The court concluded that the government did not waive its Arkansas Code Section 27-51-302 argument where the government asserted Section 302 as a basis for the traffic stop in its initial briefs in opposition to the motions to suppress. If defendants can show that they actually suffered prejudice as a result of the government's misstatement at the hearing and that the misstatement prevented them from fully responding to the government's Section 302 argument, then they may file on remand a motion to reopen the suppression hearing or supplement the record with additional arguments or evidence, if any additional evidence exists, to rebut the government's Section 302 theory. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
Court Description: Criminal case - Criminal law. The district court erred in finding the government had waived or abandoned its argument that the traffic stop was justified under Arkansas Code Section 27-51-302; the government's misstatement at the suppression hearing regarding the basis for its argument was not sufficient to support the conclusion that it intentionally relinquished or abandoned the issue as it timely asserted the argument, briefed it as a basis for the stop and filed a motion shortly after the hearing explaining that it had erred at the hearing and was reasserting the argument; remanded for further proceedings.
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