United States v. Lionel Mendez
Opinion
Opinion
Reinhardt, J.
ORDER
The majority opinion and dissent, filed October 30, 2006, 467 F.3d 1162 (9th Cir. 2006), are hereby withdrawn. The superseding opinion will be filed concurrently with this order. Further petitions for rehearing or rehearing en banc may be filed.
OPINION
Lionel Mendez was pulled over by two police officers for failure to display a visible license plate or registration tag. He was asked to exit the car, patted down for weapons and told to sit on the curb behind the vehicle while a records check was conducted. In response to questioning about matters unrelated to the purpose of the traffic stop, Mendez told the officers that he was a felon and that there was a gun in the vehicle, at which point they arrested him, searched the car and found the gun. After the district court denied his motion to suppress the evidence, Mendez entered a conditional plea of guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1). The only issue on appeal is whether the district court erred when it denied his motion to suppress. We conclude that it did not.