United States v. Avalos, No. 19-3657 (8th Cir. 2021)
Annotate this CaseThe Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress evidence in a case where defendant pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court held that there was no Fourth Amendment violation where the district court did not err in determining the Creighton University security officers were not acting as, or participating with, government officials when they stopped defendant and discovered the gun at issue. In this case, none of the security officers had received training from the Omaha police; they did not contact the police before detaining defendant; they did not act at the request of the police; and there is no evidence they intended to assist them.
Court Description: [Benton, Author, with Erickson, and Grasz, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. The district court correctly determined that defendant failed to establish that the Creighton University police officers who stopped him and discovered the gun at issue acted as government officials, and the court did not err in denying defendant's motion to suppress.
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