United States v. Paul Ray Jones ( 2001 )


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  •                       United States Court of Appeals
    FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
    ___________
    No. 99-3027
    ___________
    United States of America,                  *
    *
    Plaintiff - Appellee,               *
    * Appeal from the United States
    v.                                  * District Court for the
    * District of Nebraska.
    Paul Ray Jones,                            *
    *
    Defendant - Appellant.              *
    ___________
    Submitted: December 14, 1999
    Filed: June 18, 2001
    ___________
    Before McMILLIAN, JOHN R. GIBSON, and MAGILL, Circuit Judges.
    ___________
    JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.
    Paul Ray Jones pled guilty to a charge of possessing cocaine with intent to
    distribute it, but he reserved the right to appeal the district court's denial of his motion
    to suppress evidence. We reverse the district court's ruling on the suppression motion
    and accordingly vacate Jones's conviction and sentence.
    Jones arrived at Omaha's Eppley Airfield on a flight from Phoenix. As Jones left
    the airport, Nebraska State Patrol Investigator Richard Lutter noticed that rather than
    proceeding in a straight line, Jones walked around a bank of telephones. Lutter found
    this suspicious and began to watch Jones. He noticed that Jones looked behind him
    three times as he walked through the terminal and that Jones did not stop at the luggage
    claim, but walked straight out to the taxi stand. Lutter testified that as a trained
    narcotics investigator, when he sees someone go directly to the taxi stand, he suspects
    the person is trying to limit his or her time in the public area by moving "quickly from
    the airplane to a semi-secure or at least a mobile area." Lutter said that when he sees
    people who appear to be nervous and who proceed straight from the plane to the taxi
    stand, he will "talk to them on each and every occasion." Lutter therefore used his
    cellular phone to summon another officer and walked up to Jones at the taxi stand.
    Lutter displayed his badge to Jones and told him that he was not in trouble or
    under arrest. Lutter asked Jones if he would speak with him. Jones turned around to
    talk to Lutter. Jones complied with Lutter's requests to show identification and his
    plane ticket, which showed Jones's flight originated in Los Angeles, a "source city" for
    drugs. Lutter noticed a bulge in the front part of Jones's waistband that he thought did
    not appear to be part of Jones's anatomy. Lutter suspected that the bulge might be
    illegal contraband secured to Jones's midsection. He told Jones his job was to look for
    people transporting narcotics and asked Jones if he had any narcotics. Jones said no.
    Lutter then asked if he could search Jones and his luggage, and Jones said, "Yes, you
    can search my bag," and handed Lutter the bag. By this time, the other officer had
    arrived and was standing beside Lutter.
    Lutter then specifically asked for permission to search Jones's person. Jones
    took a step back. He said, "If there's a problem, I can take off all my clothes and you
    can empty out my bag." Lutter advanced a step toward Jones and said that it would
    not be necessary for Jones to take off his clothes, but that he wanted to search Jones's
    person. Jones again stepped back and repeated his offer to take off all his clothes.
    Lutter asked Jones about the bulge at his waist. Jones said he had had surgery, and he
    put his hands on the bulge. Although Lutter's report written immediately after the
    incident reports no further gestures, at the suppression hearing Lutter said that Jones
    -2-
    then held his arms out away from his body about ten to eighteen inches from his
    midsection, with his palms turned out. Lutter touched the bulge and thought it felt like
    "packaging that is consistent with the packaging of illegal narcotics." He arrested Jones
    and searched him. The bulge turned out to be a package of cocaine, and Lutter found
    another such bag strapped to Jones's back.
    Jones moved to suppress the cocaine, arguing that Lutter stopped him without
    reasonable suspicion and searched him without probable cause. After a hearing, the
    magistrate judge recommended denial of Jones's suppression motion. The magistrate
    judge found that the encounter between Jones and Lutter was consensual: Jones
    expressly consented to the search of the bag, and he impliedly consented to Lutter's
    touching of the bulge. The magistrate concluded that after Lutter touched the package,
    there was "a basis" to arrest and search Jones.
    The district court accepted the magistrate judge's report and recommendation.
    The district court found, "The encounter began as a consensual one and remained
    consensual." In particular, the district court found that Jones expressed consent to
    Lutter's touching his midsection by saying he would take off his clothes and by moving
    his arms away from his body when Lutter asked to search him. The district court also
    found that this expression of consent was voluntary: "Even though the Defendant's
    consent was not enthusiastically given and was implied by his actions and statements
    of being willing to remove his clothing, it was knowing and voluntary."
    On appeal, Jones argues that he did not express consent by word or gesture to
    Lutter's touching him and even if his actions could be taken as consent, they were not
    voluntary.
    The determination of whether Jones expressed consent is a question of fact,
    which we review for clear error. See United States v. Dupree, 
    202 F.3d 1046
    , 1049
    (8th Cir. 2000). The precise question is not whether Jones consented subjectively, but
    -3-
    whether his conduct would have caused a reasonable person to believe that he
    consented. See United States v. Sanchez, 
    32 F.3d 1330
    , 1333-35 (8th Cir. 1994)
    (officer reasonably believed defendant consented where companion appeared to
    translate requests into language defendant understood, defendant signed consent to
    search, and companion assisted in opening truck). Consent can be inferred from words,
    gestures, and other conduct. See United States v. Mendoza-Cepeda, No. 00-3116,
    
    2001 WL 527171
     at *1 (8th Cir. May 18, 2001) (consent to touch misdsection
    expressed by suspect raising arms in response to request); United States v. Gleason,
    
    25 F.3d 605
    , 607 (8th Cir. 1994) (defendant consented to search for weapons and
    cheerfully assisted in search that discovered other evidence of robbery; officer could
    infer consent to general search from assistance and demeanor); United States v.
    Barahona, 
    990 F.2d 412
    , 417-418 (8th Cir. 1993) (consent to search of car where
    defendant read consent form, said, "You can look, sir," unlocked car doors, and waved
    arm toward car in "inviting manner").
    The district court found that Jones's consent "was implied by his actions and
    statements of being willing to remove his clothing." By "actions" the district court
    apparently referred to Jones's gesture of opening his arms that Lutter testified about at
    the hearing, but omitted from his contemporaneous report. This gesture alone must
    bear the weight of the district court's finding of consent, because it is clear that Lutter
    did not interpret Jones's comments about taking off his clothing as a consent to Lutter
    touching him. Lutter testified that after he asked if he could search Jones, Jones
    stepped back as he said, "If there's a problem, I can remove my clothes and empty my
    bag." Lutter obviously did not interpret this as consent, because he asked Jones again
    for permission to search his person. Jones repeated the step back and repeated that he
    would take off his clothes. Lutter still did not proceed to search Jones on the strength
    of the "offer" to disrobe, but asked Jones about the bulge. After talking about the
    bulge, Lutter said he did not touch Jones until Jones opened his arms in the gesture that
    Lutter took to convey consent. If we were acting as fact finders, we would be reluctant
    to hang a finding of consent on this late-remembered gesture. Nevertheless, the district
    -4-
    court did so, and its credibility findings are well-nigh unreviewable, so long as the
    findings are not internally inconsistent or based on testimony that is incoherent,
    implausible, or contradicted by objective evidence in the case. See United States v.
    Heath, 
    58 F.3d 1271
    , 1275 (8th Cir. 1995) (credibility findings virtually unreviewable);
    Gleason, 
    25 F.3d at 607
     (same); see generally Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 
    470 U.S. 564
    , 575 (1985) (district court's credibility determination can virtually never be
    clear error if based on coherent testimony not contradicted by extrinsic evidence and
    if finding not internally inconsistent). The district court's finding of consent is not
    internally inconsistent, nor is it based on testimony that is incoherent or implausible or
    that was contradicted by objective evidence. Moreover, the facts of Jones's case are
    extremely similar to our recent case of Mendoza-Cepeda, in which a suspect who
    raised his arms in response to the investigator's request to touch his midsection was
    found to have consented to the touching. 
    2001 WL 527171
     at *1. The finding is
    therefore not clearly erroneous.
    The question of whether an expression of consent is voluntary or coerced is
    also a question of fact, subject to review for clear error. See United States v. Perez,
    
    200 F.3d 576
    , 579 (8th Cir. 2000); United States v. Hathcock, 
    103 F.3d 715
    , 719-20
    (8th Cir. 1997). We have identified factors to be considered in making this
    determination, including personal characteristics of the defendant, such as age,
    education, intelligence, sobriety, and experience with the law; and features of the
    context in which the consent was given, such as the length of detention or questioning,
    the substance of any discussion between the defendant and police preceding the
    consent, whether the defendant was free to leave or was subject to restraint, and
    whether the defendant's contemporaneous reaction to the search was consistent with
    consent. See 
    id. at 719-20
    .
    The district court found: "[T]he Defendant was an adult who was educated
    through the eleventh grade, has had experience with law enforcement, did not appear
    to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, was in a public place, was not threatened
    -5-
    or punished, and did not protest the search." The district court found that Jones's
    consent was "knowing and voluntary."
    Jones argues that Lutter's "relentless badgering" caused him to consent
    involuntarily. There is certainly no legal rule that asking more than once for permission
    to search renders a suspect's consent involuntary, see, e.g., Hathcock, 
    103 F.3d at 717, 720
    , particularly where the suspect's initial response is ambiguous, as Jones's response
    was in this case. On this record, it was for the district court to determine whether
    Lutter's persistence and the presence of the backup officer at the scene overwhelmed
    Jones and rendered his consent involuntary. We cannot say the finding of voluntariness
    was clearly erroneous.
    Although we must uphold the district court's finding that Jones consented freely
    to Lutter's touching him, the district court's holding approving Lutter's subsequent arrest
    and search of Jones conflicts with our case law. The magistrate judge reasoned that
    once Lutter touched the bulge, there was probable cause to arrest and search Jones:
    "[F]ollowing the discovery of the 'bundle' on Jones' waist area, Investigator Lutter had
    a basis to detain and arrest Jones for a complete search." The district court adopted the
    magistrate judge's report and recommendation. In determining whether there was
    probable cause to make a warrantless arrest, we review findings of historical fact for
    clear error, but the existence of probable cause is subject to de novo review. See
    United States v. Tovar-Valdivia, 
    193 F.3d 1025
    , 1027 (8th Cir. 1999). Two of our
    cases present similar scenarios in which drug interdiction officers approached travelers
    after making observations that did not amount to reasonable suspicion and noticed
    bulges under their clothing. In Tovar-Valdivia, after the officer touched the bulges on
    the suspect's side and concluded the bulges were not part of the suspect's anatomy, he
    arrested the suspect. We held that the officer did not have probable cause: "The
    bulges could have been bandages about his body, a money belt worn about his ribs, or
    any number of non-contraband items." 
    193 F.3d at 1028
    . In United States v.
    Eustaquio, 
    198 F.3d 1068
     (8th Cir. 1999), another case involving Lutter, Lutter noticed
    -6-
    the traveler had a bulge under her clothing and demanded that she pull her clothing tight
    against the bulge, which she refused to do. We held that these facts did not create even
    a reasonable suspicion that crime was afoot (not to mention probable cause) and that
    the district court erred in holding that they did. 
    Id. at 1071
    . In a third case involving
    a traveler with a bulge in her midsection, United States v. Favela, 
    247 F.3d 838
     (8th
    Cir. 2001), the suspect's conduct gave additional grounds for suspicion. The
    investigator in Favela knew that the suspect had paid for her one-way ticket from
    California in cash and that she was staying in Kansas City only one day. When the
    investigator asked Favela about the bulge above her stomach, she "sighed, shrugged her
    shoulders, and looked at the floor." 
    Id. at 839
    . With Favela's consent, the investigator
    touched the bulge and found two hard bulges. 
    Id.
     We held that there was probable
    cause for Favela's arrest. 
    Id. at 840
    .
    Before Lutter touched the bulge on Jones's midsection, the facts he had observed
    did not amount even to grounds for a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. Jones's
    walking around the phone bank, looking behind him, traveling without luggage, and
    arriving from Los Angeles are not sufficiently suggestive of crime to constitute
    reasonable suspicion. Cf. Eustaquio, 
    198 F.3d at 1070-71
     (no reasonable suspicion
    from similar facts); United States v. Collins, 
    200 F.3d 1196
    , 1197 (8th Cir. 2000)
    (suspect arrived from source city, looked around, didn't stop for luggage, paid for ticket
    with cash; no reasonable suspicion). "Too many people fit this description for it to
    justify a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity." Eustaquio, 
    198 F.3d at 1071
    ;
    accord United States v. Gray, 
    213 F.3d 998
    , 1001 (8th Cir. 2000) (walking in high
    crime area at 10:00 on cold night and crossing street in hurried fashion). Under Tovar-
    Valdivia and Eustaquio Lutter's determination that Jones had a bulge under his clothing
    that was not part of his body did not give Lutter probable cause to arrest and search
    Jones. Nothing in Jones's case augments the observation of the bulge to add up to
    probable cause. Unlike the traveler in Favela, who was unable to explain the bulge on
    her midsection, Jones told Lutter that the bulge on his midsection was from a recent
    surgery. After Lutter touched the bulges, he added nothing to his previous observations
    -7-
    except that he felt a "bundle" approximately ten inches long and six inches wide taped
    to Jones's person. He said he concluded the bulge was drugs because he had never
    encountered "anything of the nature of a hard, square bundle secured with tape. . . to
    a person that's traveling on the airplane that is not illegal narcotics or illegal
    contraband." He did not say that touching the package gave him reason to believe that
    the bulge was not a bandage, as Jones had implied it was. In fact, Lutter admitted on
    cross-examination that when he saw the bulge, it could have been a bandage, but
    "[b]ased on the information and observations of Mr. Jones, I believed it to be illegal
    contraband." In other words, he based his opinion in part on his earlier observations
    of Jones, which we have already determined were not as suspicious as Lutter thought
    they were. In sum, Lutter's testimony about touching the package does not supply any
    new facts supporting probable cause, but rather consists of a legal opinion we
    disapproved in Tovar-Valdivia and Eustaquio– that the mere presence of a bulge under
    a person's clothing, which is not part of the person's anatomy, amounts to evidence of
    drug possession. See Eustaquio, 
    198 F.3d at 1071
     ("In Tovar-Valdivia, even after the
    officer felt a bulge and determined it was not a part of the defendant's anatomy, we held
    the officer did not have probable cause to arrest.") Lutter's legal conclusion is not
    entitled to evidentiary weight.
    This case, like the others we have discussed, depends on its particular facts, and
    it is a close case. The factual scenario falls somewhere between Tovar-Valdivia and
    Eustaquio, which had been decided before we heard argument in this case, and
    Mendoza-Cepeda and Favela, which were decided after argument. Comparing our
    facts with those in the four other cases, we are convinced Jones's case falls closer to
    Tovar-Valdivia and Eustaquio. We must conclude that the arrest was not supported by
    probable cause.
    The arrest was tainted, and the subsequent search and discovery of the cocaine
    were fruit of the arrest.
    -8-
    We vacate the conviction and sentence and order the evidence suppressed.
    MAGILL, Circuit Judge, dissenting.
    I concur in the Court's holding that Jones voluntarily consented to be searched
    by Investigator Lutter. However, because I conclude that Investigator Lutter had
    probable cause to arrest the defendant, I respectfully dissent from the majority's
    reversal of the defendant's conviction.1
    "Probable cause to conduct a warrantless arrest exists when at the moment of
    arrest police have knowledge of facts and circumstances grounded in reasonably
    trustworthy information sufficient to warrant a belief by a prudent person that an
    offense has been or is being committed by the person to be arrested." United States v.
    Hartje, No. 00-2421, 
    2001 WL 579703
    , at *3 (8th Cir. May 31, 2001). In determining
    whether probable cause exists, we consider the "law enforcement officer's experience
    and familiarity with the practices of narcotics couriers." Cf. United States v. Condelee,
    
    915 F.2d 1206
    , 1209 (8th Cir. 1990). The probable cause inquiry does not require us
    to "evaluate each piece of information independently; rather, we consider all of the
    facts for their cumulative meaning." United States v. Nation, 
    243 F.3d 467
    , 470 (8th
    Cir. 2001).
    At the time of the defendant's arrest, Investigator Lutter had been a narcotics
    investigator for four years, having received special training in that field. Investigator
    1
    Jones's appellate briefs focus on whether he voluntarily consented to the search,
    and fail to address whether Investigator Lutter had probable cause to perform the
    search after touching the bulge in Jones's mid-section. A party's failure to raise an issue
    in his opening appellate brief constitutes a waiver of that issue. United States v. Hook,
    
    195 F.3d 299
    , 310 (7th Cir. 1999); United States v. Cammisano, 
    917 F.2d 1057
    , 1061
    n.1 (8th Cir. 1990). I thus have some doubt whether Jones even properly raised the
    argument that Investigator Lutter lacked probable cause to arrest.
    -9-
    Lutter had worked for two and a half years in commercial interdiction, which is the
    observation and interception of drug couriers traveling through bus stations, train
    stations, and airports. At Eppley Airfield alone, Investigator Lutter had made at least
    forty drug-related arrests, twenty of which involved narcotics strapped to individuals'
    bodies. Thus, Investigator Lutter was an experienced narcotics investigator, and his
    observations are due considerable deference.
    In this case, Investigator Lutter noticed Jones: (1) embark a flight from Los
    Angeles via Phoenix, both drug source cities; (2) walk quickly in an abnormal pattern
    through part of the airport that most passengers do not walk when exiting an airplane;
    (3) turn his head and shoulders to look behind him at least three separate times; and (4)
    proceed directly to a taxi stand without picking up any luggage. Upon talking with
    Jones, Investigator Lutter further observed that: (5) Jones's ticket had been issued on
    the day of travel; (6) Jones stated that he came to Omaha to visit a cousin named
    Anthony, but when asked where Anthony lived, Jones did not respond; and (7) Jones
    became very nervous and agitated when Investigator Lutter asked to search his person.2
    Most important was Investigator Lutter's observation and subsequent touching
    of the bulge in Jones's mid-section. Investigator Lutter testified that when he was
    talking with Jones, he noticed "a bulge that was not consistent with the natural contour
    of Mr. Jones's body." Jones subsequently provided consent for Investigator Lutter to
    touch the bulge. Investigator Lutter testified: "At the point that I felt the package and
    its consistency and the manner it was secured, I believed it to be controlled substance."
    Investigator Lutter then agreed with Jones's counsel's question: "And you squeezed
    your fingers together [around the bulge] because you want[ed] to get a feel for what's
    under there, right?" Given Investigator Lutter's training and experience in narcotics
    2
    Although none of these individual factors amount to probable cause or even
    reasonable suspicion, I doubt the majority's assertion that the combined factors do not
    amount to reasonable suspicion.
    -10-
    investigation and commercial interdiction, Lutter's belief that the bulge he felt in Jones's
    mid-section contained illegal drugs provided him with probable cause to make the
    warrantless arrest, irrespective of the factors that created his initial suspicion. Together
    with those initial reasons for suspicion, I have little trouble concluding that Investigator
    Lutter had probable cause to arrest Jones.
    Indeed, in United States v. Favela, No. 00-2314, 
    2001 WL 436060
     (8th Cir. Apr.
    26, 2001), this Court recently found probable cause to arrest under remarkably similar
    facts. In Favela, a police officer stopped the defendant at the Kansas City International
    Airport. Id. at *1. The officer asked the defendant to pull her shirt tight against her
    stomach. Id. When the defendant complied, the officer noticed a bulge around her
    stomach, and asked the defendant whether he could touch the bulge. Id. After gaining
    the defendant’s consent, the officer felt two hard bulges that he believed to be
    narcotics. Id. The officer then placed the defendant under arrest and discovered drugs
    taped to the defendant’s body in a search incident to the arrest. Id. This Court held
    that probable cause existed to effect the arrest. Id. at *2.
    The factual scenario presented in Favela is, in all relevant respects, identical to
    the scenario presented here. Both defendants consented to searches of their persons,
    the police officers felt bulges they believed to be narcotics, and the officers then
    arrested the defendants. In Favela, this Court held that these facts provided the officer
    with probable cause to arrest. Id. at *2. In this case, however, the majority holds that
    these facts do not constitute probable cause, and suppresses the drugs discovered on
    Jones’s body. In fact, given the existence here of several suspicious factors not present
    in Favela, such as Jones's repeated backward glances and agitated state, I believe this
    to be the "easier" case.
    The majority, however, argues that Favela is distinguishable from this case
    because Jones told Investigator Lutter that the bulge in his mid-section resulted from
    a recent surgery, while the Favela defendant did not explain the source of the bulge in
    -11-
    his stomach. But what the officers in Favela and in this case felt when touching the
    defendants' mid-sections is vastly more important than how the defendants explained
    the bulges. And Investigator Lutter testified that when he felt the bulge in Jones's mid-
    section, given "the package and its consistency and the manner it was secured, I
    believed it to be controlled substance." In any event, surely the existence of probable
    cause does not depend on a defendant's ability to deceive the police.
    The majority finds support for its holding that Investigator Lutter did not have
    probable cause to arrest Jones in this Court’s opinions in United States v. Tovar-
    Valdivia, 
    193 F.3d 1025
     (8th Cir. 1999) (per curiam), and United States v. Eustaquio,
    
    198 F.3d 1068
     (8th Cir. 1999). I believe that both Tovar-Valdivia and Eustaquio are
    distinguishable from this case. In Tovar-Valdivia, a police officer stopped the
    defendant at a bus terminal. 
    193 F.3d at 1026-27
    . While talking to the defendant, the
    officer noticed bulges under the defendant’s shirt. 
    Id. at 1027
    . The officer felt the
    bulges and determined only that they were not part of the defendant’s body. 
    Id.
     At this
    point, the officer handcuffed the defendant, which this Court held to be an arrest,
    thereby requiring probable cause. 
    Id.
     The officer then unbuttoned the defendant’s shirt
    and found drugs strapped to his body. 
    Id.
    In analyzing whether the police officer had probable cause to arrest the
    defendant after feeling the bulges around the defendant’s mid-section, the Tovar-
    Valdivia court noted: “The officer testified that after touching the bulges, he still did
    not know what the bulges were; all he knew was that they were not part of the
    defendant’s anatomy.” 
    Id. at 1028
    . The court further noted that the bulges under the
    defendant’s shirt “could have been bandages about his body, a money belt worn about
    his ribs, or any number of non-contraband items.” 
    Id.
    Here, by contrast, Investigator Lutter testified that the bulge in Jones’s mid-
    section felt like “packaging that is consistent with the packaging of illegal narcotics.”
    This testimony distinguishes this case from Tovar-Valdivia, where the officer admitted
    -12-
    that after touching the bulges “he still did not know what the bulges were; all he knew
    was that they were not part of [the defendant’s] anatomy.” 
    193 F.3d at 1028
    .
    Investigator Lutter had more information than merely knowing that the bulges were not
    part of Jones’s body. In other words, unlike the officer in Tovar-Valdivia, Investigator
    Lutter’s touching of Jones’s mid-section informed him that the bulges were not
    “bandages about his body, a money belt worn about his ribs, or any number of non-
    contraband items.” Id.3
    This Court’s decision in Eustaquio also is distinguishable. In Eustaquio,
    Investigator Lutter stopped the defendant at an Omaha airport. 
    198 F.3d at 1069
    .
    Investigator Lutter asked the defendant to pull her shirt tight against her body, but the
    defendant instead pulled her shirt away from her body. 
    Id.
     Nevertheless, Investigator
    Lutter saw a bulge in the defendant's mid-section and, without the defendant’s consent,
    poked the bulge. 
    Id.
     The defendant jumped back and told Investigator Lutter that he
    could not touch her. 
    Id.
     This Court, assuming that Investigator Lutter did not detain
    the defendant until he touched her, held that Investigator Lutter did not have reasonable
    suspicion to detain the defendant before he touched the bulge protruding from the
    defendant’s mid-section. 
    Id. at 1071
    .
    The difference between this case and Eustaquio is that Jones consented to be
    searched by Investigator Lutter. By contrast, the defendant in Eustaquio never
    3
    The majority finds relevant Investigator Lutter's statement that "when he saw
    the bulge, it could have been a bandage." But Investigator Lutter's concession that,
    before he touched the bulge, the possibility existed that the bulge might not contain
    illegal drugs is largely irrelevant. What is relevant is Investigator Lutter's belief after
    touching the bulge that Jones was carrying illegal narcotics. Regardless, the police are
    not required to possess metaphysical certainty that the suspect at issue is carrying
    illegal contraband. We merely require police officers to have "reasonably trustworthy
    information sufficient to warrant a belief by a prudent person that an offense has been
    or is being committed by the person to be arrested." Hartje, 
    2001 WL 579703
    , at *3.
    -13-
    consented to a search of her person. Id. at 1070; see also Favela, 
    2001 WL 436060
    ,
    at *1 (distinguishing Eustaquio by noting that the defendant in Favela consented to a
    search of her person); United States v. Mendoza-Cepeda, No. 00-3116, 
    2001 WL 527171
    , at *2 (8th Cir. May 18, 2001) (distinguishing Eustaquio by noting that the
    defendant in Mendoza-Cepeda consented to a search of his person). Thus, the
    Eustaquio court refused to consider what Investigator Lutter felt when he touched the
    bulge in analyzing whether Lutter had reasonable suspicion to touch the defendant’s
    mid-section. 
    198 F.3d at 1071
    . In this case, however, Jones gave Investigator Lutter
    consent to search his person; therefore, we must examine Investigator Lutter’s belief
    that the object he felt through Jones’s clothing was drugs in evaluating whether
    Investigator Lutter had probable cause to arrest the defendant after touching the bulge.
    Finally, even if I were to conclude that Investigator Lutter did not have probable
    cause to arrest the defendant, I would not exclude the drugs discovered on the
    defendant’s body. The defendant consented to a search of his person, providing
    Investigator Lutter with the consent needed to pull up the defendant’s shirt and see the
    drugs taped to his body without resorting to a purportedly illegal arrest. I concede that
    this case does not fit neatly within any of the currently recognized exceptions to the
    exclusionary rule. However, I see no purpose in excluding the fruit of an invalid arrest
    where, as here, the officer has the consent necessary to discover the evidence before
    effecting the arrest but mistakenly arrests the defendant in the good faith belief that he
    has probable cause to do so. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent from the reversal of
    the defendant's conviction.
    A true copy.
    Attest:
    CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.
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