United States v. DaCruz-Mendes, No. 19-1807 (8th Cir. 2020)
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The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress evidence and defendant's sentence for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. In regard to the motion to suppress, the court held that the district court did not clearly err in its factual findings; the district court did not commit legal error by finding that the initial encounter between the detectives and defendant was consensual; a reasonable officer would believe that defendant had consented to the search of his luggage at a bus stop despite the existing language barrier based on defendant's responsiveness to questions and affirmative response when asked if his bag could be searched; the search of defendant's cell phone was also consensual; and the district court did not clearly err in concluding that defendant's waiver of his Miranda rights was knowing and voluntary.
In regard to defendant's sentence, the court held that defendant's within-Guidelines sentence was substantively reasonable where the district court gave due consideration when weighing all the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) sentencing factors, and the court found no abuse of discretion.
Court Description: [Grasz, Author, with Colloton and Gruender, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. The district court did not err in finding defendant's initial encounter with the police at a bus station was consensual; a reasonable officer would believe defendant had consented to a search of his luggage despite the language barrier (defendant, a Brazilian native, is a Portuguese speaker) as defendant was responsive to questions and responded affirmatively when officers asked if hey could search his bag and phone; the district court did not err in rejecting a claim that defendant did not understand the Spanish language forms as the record demonstrated defendant had the requisite understanding of Spanish to appreciate and waive his Miranda rights; defendant's within-guidelines range sentence was not substantively unreasonable.
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