8th Circuit decides two N.D. cases Monday, May 10, 2021

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has affirmed the convictions in a North Dakota firearms possession case and in an immigration case.

In United States v. Willie Navarette, the court held that the initial portion of the traffic stop was extended by the defendant's inability to produce basic identifying documents and the time it took the officer to contact dispatch and attempt to determine defendant's identity; during this initial investigation, the officer learned that defendant was on federal probation and that his possession of a loaded handgun magazine, which the officer saw in plain sight, was likely a criminal offense; as a result, the officer had reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot, and she could extend the traffic stop to address her suspicions.

Read the court's opinion at: https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/21/05/201285P.pdf

In United States v. Rafael Puebla-Zamora, the court held that the local police did not violate defendant's Fourth Amendment rights by detaining him at the request of the Border Patrol as the cooperation between the police and the Border Patrol was within the authority conferred by Congress in 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1357(g)(10); Brady argument rejected as the defendant failed to show how the unproduced text messages from a Confidential Informant to a police officer about a potential burglary were either favorable to him or material to his charged offense; further there is no evidence of intentional deletion of the missing text messages.

Read the court's opinion at: https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/21/05/201153P.pdf