United States v. Jonathan Thomas

This criminal appeal raises two issues of first impression. We are called upon to consider the demands of the Speedy Trial Act in the case of a superseding indictment as well as to explore the emerging parameters for the constitutional use of drug-detection dogs.

I

A

In the early afternoon on February 28, 2010, Jonathan Thomas approached a highway checkpoint in southern Arizona manned by the United States Border Patrol. He was driving a silver pick-up truck with a large black toolbox attached to the bed. Border Patrol Agent Christopher LeBlanc had a partner that day: “BenyA,” his drug-detection dog, who was trained in the detection of concealed humans and controlled substances. LeBlanc was stationed about fifteen feet in front of a “primary inspection” area. As Thomas’s truck passed, Beny-A started to demonstrate what LeBlanc described as “alert behavior.” The dog’s tail and ears went up, his posture and breathing pattern changed, and he started “air-scenting.”

Based on those responses, agents directed Thomas to secondary inspection where he and his three young children exited the truck. Starting at the tailgate, LeBlanc walked Beny-A counterclockwise around the…