United States v. Jason Guidry

Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 5322, 2016 WL 1118572, 817 F.3d 997 (2016)

ELI5:

Sections

Rule of Law:

Under the Fourth Amendment, a traffic stop is not unconstitutionally prolonged by a dog sniff if the sniff occurs while the officer is reasonably completing the mission of the stop (such as issuing a citation), or if the officer has independent reasonable suspicion to extend the detention. Furthermore, a police dog's instinctive entry into a vehicle through a door left open by the suspect does not constitute an illegal search if the police did not facilitate the entry.

Facts:

Officer Fickett stopped Guidry for driving without license plates; Fickett recognized Guidry from a prior stop where he smelled marijuana and knew Guidry was a suspected drug dealer.
During the stop, Fickett detected a faint odor of marijuana but could not pinpoint the source due to wind.
Fickett requested a canine unit immediately while he began processing Guidry's paperwork and writing a citation.
The canine officer arrived five minutes later; Fickett was still in the process of writing the citation.
Officers asked Guidry to exit the vehicle; Guidry complied but left the driver's door open.
The drug-detection dog, Bud, alerted to the odor of drugs while sniffing the exterior, then indicated by sitting, and subsequently put his head through the open door without a command from the handler.
Officers searched the car, finding heroin and cocaine, which led to warrants for Guidry's residences where more drugs and evidence of prostitution were found.
Guidry had recruited women to prostitute for him, leveraging their heroin addictions and fear of withdrawal to control them.

Procedural Posture:

Guidry was indicted in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Guidry filed a motion to suppress evidence from the traffic stop, which the Magistrate Judge recommended denying.
The District Court adopted the recommendation and denied the motion to suppress regarding the car search.
Guidry filed supplemental motions to suppress evidence from his residences, which the District Court also denied.
Guidry entered a guilty plea to interstate travel for prostitution and possession with intent to distribute, reserving the right to appeal the suppression rulings.
The District Court sentenced Guidry to 299 months in prison and imposed various conditions of supervised release.

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Issue:

Does a dog sniff violate a driver's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches when the dog sniff occurs while the officer is still writing a citation, and does the dog's subsequent entry into the vehicle through a door left open by the driver constitute an illegal search?

Opinions:

Majority - Judge Flaum

No, the dog sniff did not violate the Fourth Amendment because it did not prolong the stop, and the dog's entry into the car was not facilitated by the police. Regarding the duration of the stop, the court applied the standard from Rodriguez v. United States, noting that the canine officer arrived only five minutes after the request and while the initial officer was still completing the mission of the stop (writing the ticket). Additionally, the officer had independent reasonable suspicion (odor of marijuana and prior knowledge) to extend the stop regardless of the ticket status. Regarding the dog's entry into the vehicle, the court distinguished this case from United States v. Winningham. Here, the officers did not open the door (Guidry did), did not unleash the dog, and did not encourage the dog to enter. The dog acted instinctively. Furthermore, the dog had already alerted to the exterior before entering, providing probable cause for the search. The court affirmed the conviction and sentencing enhancements but vacated several vague conditions of supervised release regarding support of dependents and alcohol use.

Analysis:

This case provides significant clarification on the application of Rodriguez v. United States within the Seventh Circuit, demonstrating that a dog sniff does not "prolong" a stop if the officer is essentially multitasking and has not finished the traffic citation. It creates a clear distinction for dog sniffs that breach the interior of a vehicle: if the breach is "instinctive" and not facilitated by police misconduct (like opening the door themselves), it does not trigger the exclusionary rule, particularly if probable cause was already established by an exterior alert. Additionally, the sentencing aspect refines the "vulnerable victim" enhancement, establishing that while drug addiction alone is insufficient, a defendant's specific exploitation of a victim's addiction and withdrawal symptoms to coerce conduct justifies the enhancement.

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