United States v. Rene Del Toro Gudino, AKA Rene Del Toro-Gudino

The issue in this case is whether a criminal defendant’s identity must be suppressed when it was disclosed as a result of an unconstitutional stop.

Rene del Toro Gudino was convicted of being found in the United States, having been deported. Del Toro Gudino appeals on the ground that the evidence of his identity should have been suppressed, because it was disclosed only when a deputy sheriff unconstitutionally directed his attention to del Toro Gudino. The district court denied the motion to suppress without an evidentiary hearing, so the only facts we have on the “stop” are those in the report from the sheriffs office that defense counsel attached to his motion. We put “stop” in quotation marks because the deputy did not stop del Toro. He was already stopped when the deputies directed their attention to him.

Between two and three in the morning, a deputy sheriff on routine patrol in Havre, Montana, drove behind a convenience store and “noticed two Hispanic transient looking males sitting on the sidewalk.” He got out of his car and sought their identities. They had no driver’s licenses or other identification, spoke poor English, and seemed evasive. The deputy thought they might…