United States v. Stewart

A cocaine courier arrested by Indianapolis police stated that a major customer of his distributor, Colon, lived in a certain apartment complex; he had seen Colon deliver drugs to the customer there and at Colon’s store and provided a general physical description. Officers saw Stewart visit Colon's store, making no purchase. Stewart lived in the apartment complex and had felony drug convictions. Officers followed Stewart to a gas station. Another man exited a parked car and got into Stewart’s car. Minutes later, the man left. Officers, believing that they had witnessed a drug sale, called Detective Ball, who traveled with Josie, a dog trained to detect illegal drugs. Three detectives saw Stewart fail to stop at a red light. Ball pulled Stewart over. Stewart declined to allow a search. Stewart identified a bulge in his pocket as $700 in cash. Five minutes into the stop, Ball requested backup, continuing to work on the traffic violation. Approximately eight minutes later, backup arrived. Ball then walked Josie around Stewart’s car. Josie alerted after 105 seconds. An officer was still working on the ticket. Ball inspected the car's interior, immediately finding a handgun close to the driver’s seat. Stewart was a convicted felon, so Ball arrested Stewart and gave him Miranda warnings, then continued his search. The trunk contained crack cocaine, powder cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, a digital scale, and $7,420 in cash, plus $1,904 in Stewart’s pocket. Given his Miranda warnings again at the station, Stewart signed a waiver and made incriminating statements that were recorded. A warranted search of Stewart’s home yielded additional cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, four handguns, and $487,542 in cash. Convicted under 21 U.S.C. 841 and 851; 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1); 18 U.S.C. 924(c); 18 U.S.C. 1957; and 18 U.S.C. 1956(a)(1), Stewart’s sentence was life imprisonment without parole. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the denial of motions to suppress the evidence obtained during and as a result of the traffic stop and the confession and to limit the use of evidence of Stewart's visits to Colon’s store. There was reasonable suspicion to support any delay in obtaining a dog sniff. The money laundering convictions were supported by substantial evidence. View "United States v. Stewart" on Justia Law