Access over 20 million homework & study documents

CRJ 550 SLU The 4th Amendments Appeals Case

Content type
User Generated
Subject
Policy
School
Saint Leo University
Type
Other
Rating
Showing Page:
1/2
U.S v Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266 (2001)
1
CRJ550
Case Brief #1
Saint Leo University
TITLE AND CITATION: U.S v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266 (2001)
TYPE OF ACTION: SCOTUS review of a 9
th
Circuit Court of Appeals decision, violation of the
4
th
Amendment. Stop, search, and apprehend a motor vehicle based on the totality of the
circumstances and reasonable suspicion.
FACTS OF THE CASE:
In southeastern Arizona, there is a section on Highway 191 that serves as a border patrol
checkpoint. The roving border patrol constantly checks the unpaved roads to catch drug
smugglers who avoid the checkpoint. The magnetic sensors, in the lining of the unpaved roads,
alert the border patrol agents and detect smugglers. In January 1998, Border Patrol Agent Clinton
Stoddard stopped Ralph Arvizu driving a minivan on an unpaved road in a remote area of
Southeastern Arizona. He stopped the vehicle due to one of the magnetic sensors alerting him.
Before searching, Stoddard approached the minivan.
Based on his experience he concluded that the minivan is known used by drug smugglers
frequently. Including Arvizu, the family in the van was a total of five. Stoddard began to follow
the van due to the suspicion of the driver being abnormally stiff. Along with that suspicion, he
also noticed that the children were waving abnormal to Stoddard. Once the driver turned on the
road to avoid the checkpoint, as a border patrol officer protocol, Stoddard radioed in for vehicle
registration and proceeded to stop the minivan due to getting a keen understanding of the owner
of the vehicle living in a high-drug trafficking area in Arizona.
Once Stoddard made the car pull over, he then granted permission to search the vehicle. The
driver gave the border patrol agent the consent to search the minivan. When the vehicle was
being searched, Stoddard came upon a vast number of illegal drugs underneath the feet of the
children and within the back seat. The drugs were more than 100 pounds of marijuana. The
search of the vehicle yielded about 129 pounds of marijuana, which is the street value of
approximately $99,000. Arvizu was then arrested and charged with the intent to distribute
marijuana. Arvizu claims that Stoddard did not have any reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle.
However, the District Court of Arizona denied the motion. On the other hand, the United States
of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the motion when Arvizu filed an appeal. In the appeal,
factors are weighing a troubling degree of uncertainty in the Fourth Amendment.
CONTENTIONS OF THE PARTIES:

Sign up to view the full document!

lock_open Sign Up
Showing Page:
2/2

Sign up to view the full document!

lock_open Sign Up
Unformatted Attachment Preview
U.S v Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266 (2001) 1 CRJ550 Case Brief #1 Saint Leo University TITLE AND CITATION: U.S v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266 (2001) TYPE OF ACTION: SCOTUS review of a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision, violation of the 4th Amendment. Stop, search, and apprehend a motor vehicle based on the totality of the circumstances and reasonable suspicion. FACTS OF THE CASE: In southeastern Arizona, there is a section on Highway 191 that serves as a border patrol checkpoint. The roving border patrol constantly checks the unpaved roads to catch drug smugglers who avoid the checkpoint. The magnetic ...
Purchase document to see full attachment
User generated content is uploaded by users for the purposes of learning and should be used following Studypool's honor code & terms of service.

Anonymous
Awesome! Perfect study aid.

Studypool
4.7
Trustpilot
4.5
Sitejabber
4.4

Similar Documents