8th Circuit decides N.D. case Monday, April 4, 2022

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has issued an opinion in a North Dakota drug case. The court held that the magistrate judge correctly applied the reasonable-suspicion standard in determining whether defendant's car was impermissibly seized under the totality of the circumstances; the trooper's decision to impound the car was guided by the Highway Patrol's policy and the decision was made on the basis of something other than the suspicion of evidence of criminal activity; a second inventory search was permissible because it was done in accordance with the general police routine of taking an accounting of items in police custody to protect the owners' property and protect the police against disputes over unaccounted-for property; the record showed the drug dog used in the case had the requisite accuracy and reliability to establish probable cause for a search of the vehicle; the record does not support defendant's claim that the dog's handler impermissibly cued her; Franks claim rejected; taken in the context of the government's entire closing argument and the trial evidence, a jury would not have naturally and necessarily taken the government's remark - that defendants and his passengers had come to Spirit Lake to sell meth - as a comment on defendant's decision not to testify.

Read the court's opinion at: http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/22/04/211191P.pdf