Motion to Suppress – 4th Amendment

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Gregario Paniagua-Garcia

Case No.: 15-2540

Officials: POSNER, KANNE, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Motion to Suppress – 4^th Amendment

Appellant pulled over for allegedly “texting and driving” challenges sufficiency of search leading to discovery of 5 pounds of heroin. Indiana statute prohibits texting and sending emails while driving and not the many other uses. As a result, state failed to establish officers had probable cause or reasonable suspicion to pull over appellant.

“The government appears to recognize no limit to the grounds on which police may stop a driver. It says the officer’s suspicion must be reasonable but offers no example of unreasonable suspicion and cites no evidence to support a finding of reasonable suspicion in this case. What it calls reasonable suspicion we call suspicion. Suppose the officer had observed Paniagua drinking from a cup that appeared to contain just coffee. Were the coffee spiked with liquor in however small a quantity, Paniagua would be violating a state law forbidding drinking an alcoholic beverage while driving, and that possibility, however remote, would on the reasoning advanced by the government and adopted by the district judge justify stopping the driver.”

Reversed and Remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.