United States v. Travis Pope

Defendant-appellant Travis Pope appeals from the denial of his motion to suppress evidence of his possession of marijuana. Pope argues that an officer’s two separate commands directing him to empty his pockets each constituted illegal searches in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. These arguments fail.

Because Pope did not comply with the officer’s first command, the command did not cause an intrusion upon Pope’s reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of his pockets. Thus, it was not a search. The officer’s second command, with which Pope complied, was a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. However, the search was not illegal because it was supported by probable cause and because exigent circumstances justified searching Pope without a warrant. Accordingly, we affirm.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

The material facts of this case are undisputed and were captured on a video recording of the incident. On August 16, 2009, Forest Law Enforcement Officer Ken Marcus drove to a large gathering of people in the El Dorado National Forest after receiving reports of loud music and use of a public address system. He…