United States v. Dora Correa Patino

The essential issue in this case is whether the initial contact by the police with Dora Patino in the Miami airport constituted a seizure invoking the protection of the fourth amendment. The Government appeals from an order suppressing evidence which the court found was derived from a “seizure” of the person of Dora Patino without reasonable suspicion that she was engaged in unlawful activity. The princi pal evidence in question is a quantity of cocaine discovered in her suitcase. On appeal the Government contends that Patino’s encounter with the police was voluntary and did not constitute a fourth amendment seizure; the Government does not contend that reasonable suspicion justified the encounter. A secondary issue is whether, assuming an unlawful seizure, the discovery of the cocaine was the result of independent investigative efforts untainted by the seizure.

Dora Patino was indicted for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1). Patino filed a motion to suppress evidence alleging that the seven pounds of cocaine retrieved from her suitcase by narcotics agents was obtained in violation of her fourth amendment rights. In her motion…