United States v. Salinas

MEMORANDUM ***

Defendant Ricardo Salinas appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence. He entered a conditional guilty plea to the charge of possession of an unregistered firearm for which he was sentenced to a term of 80 months. He argues that the police violated his Fourth Amendment rights because they did not have reasonable suspicion to stop him, remove an icepick from the chest pocket of his bib overalls, or frisk him, which led to the discovery of a firearm. As a result of the encounter, Salinas was indicted for: (1) felon in possession of firearm and (2) possession of an unregistered firearm. The district court held that the initial encounter between the police detectives and Salinas was consensual, and that the removal of the icepick and subsequent frisk were constitutional. We affirm.

Salinas’s initial encounter with the detectives was consensual. An encounter is consensual “[s]o long as a reasonable person would feel free to disregard the police and go about his business.... ” Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 434 , 111 S.Ct. 2382 , 115 L.Ed.2d 389 (1991) (internal quotations and citation omitted). Factors to consider are: “(1) the number of…