State of Iowa v. Pedro Ibarra Murillo, Jr.
State of Iowa v. Pedro Ibarra Murillo, Jr.
Opinion
Pedro Ibarra Murillo Jr. appeals from the denial of his motion to suppress. He maintains his constitutional rights were violated when police officers detained him without reasonable suspicion to prolong the stop after arresting the passenger of his vehicle. He asks that we reverse the denial of his motion and suppress all evidence obtained from his vehicle.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings.
On the afternoon of September 30, 2016, Deputy Sheriff Adam Jacobs was getting into his patrol car when he noticed a truck pulling a trailer as it drove by him. He recognized the man sitting in the passenger seat as Michael Feller, whom the deputy knew had an outstanding warrant for arrest. The officer followed the truck for a number of miles before initiating a stop of the vehicle. After the driver-Murillo-pulled over, Deputy Jacobs approached the passenger side of the truck. As he got near, Jacobs noticed that Feller had reclined his seat and was laying down in the truck; a manner in which he had not been seated before the officer initiated the stop. Jacobs instructed Murillo to roll down the window or unlock the doors of the vehicle so he could extract Feller from the truck, but Murillo refused to do so. The officer advised Murillo that he had stopped the vehicle because he had a warrant for the arrest of his passenger, but Murillo still refused to comply. After the officer radioed for a second unit and withdrew his service weapon, Murillo unlocked the doors. Feller then exited the vehicle. Deputy Jacobs patted down Feller, finding a knife and small bag of methamphetamine 1 in Feller's pocket. Jacobs handcuffed Feller and put him in the back of his squad car. According to the call-for-service-detail report created and kept by the police department, this occurred at 17:00 hours or 5:00 p.m.
After Feller had been detained, Jacobs returned to Murillo's vehicle to speak with him, asking Murillo for his license, registration, and proof of insurance. "Unprompted," Murillo told Deputy Jacobs that he did not want the officer to search his vehicle. Additionally, he reported he did not have his registration card or current insurance information with him. Jacobs noted that Murillo had not checked the center console for the documents and asked him if he intended to do so; Murillo responded that it was locked. At that point, at 5:11 p.m., Deputy Jacobs called for a K-9 unit.
Deputy Behnken and the drug-sniffing dog, Kaia, arrived at the scene at 5:26 p.m. Within a few minutes, Deputy Behnken took Kaia around the vehicle; she "indicated" by sitting near the rear passenger door.
Deputy Jacobs and Deputy Behnken then decided to conduct a search of the interior of the vehicle. They were initially unable to begin the search, as Murillo had intentionally locked the keys in the vehicle when he was asked to step out so the dog sniff could be conducted. The officers used a tool to gain entry into the vehicle. Once inside, the officers used the ignition key for the vehicle to open the locked center console. The search uncovered:
a loaded Sig P238 with a leather holster located in the center console, along with a plastic bag full of U.S. currency, a couple glass pipes with green leafy plant substance, ... believe[d] to be marijuana, a tear dropper full of brown liquid, ... believe[d] to be THC oil, and a large amount of U.S. currency in the back seat of the pickup truck.
According to the complaint and affidavit filed by Deputy Jacobs, the officers also found "a clear plastic baggie containing an amount of a crystal like substance ... on the driver's side floor board," which field tested positive for methamphetamine.
Deputy Jacobs then placed Murillo under arrest. Murillo was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), and possession of a controlled substance (marijuana).
Murillo filed a motion to suppress, arguing he had been seized when he was detained so the officers could call for and complete a dog sniff of his vehicle without officers having the requisite level of suspicion. Murillo later filed an amended motion, in which he argued-under the recently decided
State v. Coleman
,
At the suppression hearing, Deputy Jacobs testified that at the time he initiated the stop, he was personally aware of Feller's history of involvement with illegal drugs, as he had previously been involved in a high-speed chase with Feller that ultimately resulted in the recovery of a half pound of marijuana and some amount of methamphetamine from Feller's vehicle. Additionally, the deputy knew the current arrest warrant for Feller's arrest stemmed from Feller's violation of that probation. Additionally, Jacobs testified he had "been provided information from several sources that Mr. Murillo was involved in the sale and trade of illegal narcotics and that he was currently-that Mr. Feller was an associate of his and that Mr. Feller was hiding out at his farm residence." Jacobs also claimed his unnamed sources told him, "Murillo was known to carry weapons," and that Murillo's vehicle-the truck and trailer that Jacobs pulled over-"match[ed] the description" of the vehicle his contacts told him Feller was using "while he was on the run." He conceded this information was more than two weeks old at the time of the traffic stop.
In the written ruling, the court noted the State asserted "reasonable suspicion to prolong the stop and to perform a drug dog sniff" "arose from [Murillo's] actions, including refusing to unlock the doors for officers, locking his own keys inside the vehicle, and stating that he would not give consent to a search prior to officers asking for a search." The court rejected a number of the officer's reasons justifying the stop, including his claims that he was unable to read the license plate on the trailer, that Murillo and Feller had said there was a death in the family that required them to go to Denison yet they were not on the most direct route, and that "several sources" had previously told him Murillo was known to carry a weapon and to be involved in drug activity. Yet the court denied Murillo's motion to suppress, ruling the deputies had reasonable suspicion at the time Feller was arrested to extend the stop of Murillo. In reaching its decision, the court relied on the following:
Upon stopping the vehicle, it was Murillo who refused to open a window or door until the officer pulled his weapon. Upon removing Feller from the pickup, and finding controlled substances on his person, the request that the driver produce the registration and proof of insurance was not impermissible. Murillo's response that he wouldn't look in the console because it was locked, his statement regarding refusing a search when none was requested, and his failure to produce documents required to be maintained in the vehicle provided a sufficient basis for his further detention.
....
The court finds [Murillo's] suspicious behavior, his association with Feller, and the presence of drugs on Feller, provide enough, reasonable suspicion for a dog sniff.
Following the denial of his motion to suppress, Murillo waived his right to a jury trial, and the case proceeded to a bench trial on the stipulated minutes of evidence. The court found Murillo guilty as charged as to each of the three counts. Murillo was later sentenced to a term of incarceration not to exceed five years. Murillo appeals.
II. Standard of Review.
"We review the district court's denial of a motion to suppress on constitutional grounds de novo."
Coleman
,
III. Discussion.
Pursuant to
Coleman
, a law enforcement officer making a valid traffic stop supported by reasonable suspicion must terminate the stop when the underlying reason for the stop has been resolved and there is no other basis for reasonable suspicion.
In Iowa, "[w]e strongly favor the warrant requirement, subject only to 'jealously and carefully drawn exceptions.' "
In determining whether the basis for reasonable suspicion existed, "we do not evaluate ... based on each circumstance individually, but determine the existence of reasonable suspicion by considering all the circumstances together."
State v. McIver
,
Because Deputy Jacobs had a basis to lawfully continue the stop, Murillo's constitutional rights were not violated when the officer approached his vehicle after detaining Feller and asked for Murillo's license, registration, and proof of insurance.
See
Coleman
,
Next, we must consider whether Deputy Jacobs had the requisite suspicion to detain Murillo while the officer called for a K-9 unit to conduct an open-air sniff of Murillo's vehicle. Because "a dog sniff that occurs outside a vehicle is not a search under the meaning of the Fourth Amendment," "neither probable cause nor reasonable suspicion must be present to justify it."
Bergmann
,
It is undisputed that calling the K-9 unit and performing the dog sniff "added time" to the stop. Feller was detained at 5:00 p.m., and Deputy Jacobs then approached Murillo in his vehicle and asked for his identification. Only after this initial contact with Murillo was completed did Deputy Jacobs call for the K-9 unit-at 5:11 p.m.-which did not arrive until 5:26 p.m., with the dog sniff apparently occurring a few minutes later. Thus, the question is whether Deputy Jacobs had reasonable suspicion to detain Murillo for the prolonged stop.
Here, after Feller had been detained, Jacobs returned to Murillo's vehicle and asked him for his license, registration, and proof of insurance. According to Deputy Jacobs's testimony, Murillo then told the officer, unprompted, that he did not want him to search his vehicle. Additionally, Murillo reported he did not have his registration card or current insurance information with him. Jacobs noted that Murillo had not checked the center console for the documents and asked him if he intended to do so; Murillo responded that it was locked. It was then that Deputy Jacobs called for the K-9 unit. We must determine if these actions, along with the others Murillo had already taken since the stop was initiated, provided a basis for reasonable suspicion that allowed Deputy Jacobs to detain Murillo while he called the K-9 unit.
While the State maintains-and the district court found-that Murillo's refusal to give consent to the search of his vehicle before it was even requested was a basis for reasonable suspicion, "neither the invocation of constitutional rights nor the refusal to grant consent to an officer to perform a search can be used alone to support either reasonable suspicion or probable cause."
State v. Kern
,
Any other rule would make a mockery of the reasonable suspicion and probable cause requirements, as well as the consent doctrine. These legal principles would be considerably less effective if citizens' insistence that searches and seizures be conducted in conformity with constitutional norms could create the suspicion or cause that renders their consent unnecessary.
We agree. If such a refusal of consent or invocation of constitutional rights could supply officers with the requisite suspicion or cause to conduct a search, then citizens would be exposed to a dangerous catch-22 when officers request consent to conduct a search. If consent is given, the search occurs. If consent is refused, the officer may nevertheless conduct the search pursuant to the probable cause generated by the refusal. This is an unacceptable consequence under our constitutional framework.
Kern
,
We are, however, persuaded by the State's argument that Murillo's indication that he was unable to open the locked center console-when a rational inference led Deputy Jacobs to conclude the ignition key would unlock the compartment-considered in conjunction with his association with Feller, a known drug dealer who was found to have drugs on his person at that time, and Murillo's initial refusal to open or unlock the doors, provided a basis for reasonable suspicion there were drugs in Murillo's vehicle.
See
State v. Vance
,
Because the officer had a reasonable suspicion Murillo was concealing narcotics in his vehicle, Murillo's constitutional rights were not violated when Deputy Jacobs detained him to call the K-9 unit. As Murillo has not challenged the constitutionality of the remainder of the stop-including when the officers conducted a warrantless search of the interior of the vehicle after the K-9 unit indicated near the vehicle-we affirm the district court's denial of Murillo's motion to suppress the evidence found in his truck.
AFFIRMED.
Jacobs testified he recognized the substance as methamphetamine at the time he found it based on his training; later testing of the substance confirmed his identification.
At the suppression hearing, Deputy Jacobs testified that he was unable to see Murillo's rear license plate on the trailer while he was following the vehicle, suggesting another basis for the stop. However, the trial court found this claim lacked merit, as the video from Jacob's police car-which was admitted as an exhibit-showed otherwise. The State has not renewed this argument on appeal.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.