United States v. Warren, No. 19-2405 (8th Cir. 2021)
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The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress controlled substances found at the time of his arrest as fruits of an unlawful seizure and the district court's determination that defendant is a career offender. The court agreed with the district court that the officer's polite request for defendant to stay with him was not a command and defendant's compliance did not convert the request into a command. Even if the officer's request is construed as a command that defendant remain in the parked vehicle, the court agreed with the district court that officer safety concerns made this brief seizure objectively reasonable under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21 (1968).
The court also held that circuit precedent foreclosed defendant's contention that the district court did not err in concluding defendant was a career offender based on his three Illinois controlled substance offenses and his Iowa conviction for domestic assault with strangulation. The court need not consider the government's alternative argument that any error was harmless.
Court Description: [Loken, Author, with Shepherd, and Erickson, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. Officer's action in telling defendant to please stay in his car was a request and not a command and did not amount to a seizure; even if it was a command, safety concerns the officer had at night in a back alley made the brief seizure objectively reasonable under Terry; under Eighth Circuit precedents, the district court did not err in concluding defendant was a career offender based on his three Illinois controlled substance offenses and his Iowa conviction for domestic assault with strangulation.
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