United States v. Benito Hernandez

In this case, we must decide whether the defendant Hernandez’s presence in the rear seat of a vehicle containing commercial quantities of illegal drugs, in conjunction with all the other circumstances known to the arresting officers, created probable cause to arrest him.

I

On August 21, 2001, Benito Hernandez was sitting in the rear seat of his uncle’s Ford Windstar Minivan when the vehicle entered the United States from Mexico. Hernandez’s uncle and aunt respectively sat in the front driver seat and front passenger seat of the minivan. At the primary inspection area, a narcotics detector dog alerted to the presence of narcotics in the minivan. After the dog alert, Senior Customs Inspector Edwin Smura obtained a declaration from the driver, checked the legal status of the occupants, and asked the driver where he was going in the United States and where he was coming from in Mexico. While conducting this questioning, Inspector Smura noted that, “[the van’s passengers] all seemed very nervous; very stiff, no eye contact, and [Jose Diaz, the driver,] seemed very slow to answer questions.”

After this questioning, Inspector Smura used a density meter to check the vehicle and…

concurring:

I concur except as to footnote 3, which is not necessary to the decision.

314 F.3d 430 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Benito HERNANDEZ, Defendant-Appellant. No. 02-50155. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted November 8, 2002. Filed December 30, 2002. COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED Todd W. Burns, Federal Public Defenders of San Diego, Inc., San Diego, CA, for the defendant-appellant. Patrick K. O'Toole, United States Attorney (when brief was filed), Carol C. Lam, United States Attorney (when opinion was filed), Bruce R. Castetter, Assistant United States Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office, San Diego, CA, for the plaintiff-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California; M. James Lorenz, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CR-01-02712-MJL. Before: CANBY, GOULD and BERZON, Circuit Judges. GOULD, Circuit Judge. 1 In this case, we must decide whether the defendant Hernandez's presence in the rear seat of a vehicle containing commercial quantities of illegal drugs, in conjunction with all the other circumstances known to the arresting officers, created probable cause to arrest him. 2 * On August 21, 2001, Benito Hernandez was sitting in the rear seat of his uncle's Ford…