Garcia

MEMORANDUM *

Defendantr-Appellant Isabel Garcia appeals her conviction for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1) and (b)(1)(B). She challenges the denial of her Motion to Suppress. We reverse the district court and remand.

The crux of this case is whether Officer Hill violated Garcia’s Fourth Amendment rights when he told her to open her coat and he touched her waist area. The district court found that, at the moment Hill finished searching Garcia’s luggage, a reasonable person in Garcia’s position would have believed she was free to leave and to terminate the contact initiated by Hill; that Garcia in fact believed she was free to leave; and that her consenting to Hill’s direction to open her coat was voluntary. Whether an encounter between a defendant and officers constitutes a seizure is a mixed question of law and fact that we review de novo. See United States v. Cormier, 220 F.3d 1103, 1110 (9th Cir.2000). A district court’s determination of whether a defendant voluntarily consented to a search -depends on the totality of the circumstances and is a question of fact that we review for clear error. United States v. Jones, 286…