United States v. Filimon Garcia-Beltran

Filimon Garcia-Beltran appeals from a judgment of conviction following a conditional plea of guilty to illegally reentering the United States, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (a) and (b)(2). Prior to his guilty plea, Garcia-Beltran moved to suppress all evidence gathered as a result of his illegal arrest, including “identity evidence,” which he described as fingerprints, statements and photographs. Although Garcia-Bel-tran sought to suppress all identity evidence, his motion principally focused on the fingerprint exemplars that were taken from him shortly after his arrest. In opposing the motion, the government conceded that the police did not have probable cause to arrest Garcia-Beltran, but argufed that evidence of identity did not implicate the Fourth Amendment and therefore was not subject to suppression. The district court agreed and denied the motion. As permitted by his conditional plea agrefement, Garcia-Beltran appeals this ruling.

I.

We hold that the district court erred to the extent it failed to consider the fingerprint evidence separately. We remand for an evidentiary hearing so that the district court may make factual findings regarding the fingerprinting of…