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Asking questions during writing of a ticket does not unreasonably extend the stop

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officer's pause during ticket writing to ask some questions did not unreasonably extend the stop. United States v. Turvin, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 4080 (9th Cir. February 26, 2008) (2-1): Christensen's brief pause in the ticket-writing process was reasonable, as was the duration of the detention until consent was given. We will not accept a bright-line rule that questions are unreasonable if the officer pauses in the ticket-writing process in order to ask them. The Supreme Court has "consistently eschewed bright-line rules [in the Fourth Amendment context], instead emphasizing the fact-specific nature of the reasonableness inquiry." Robinette, 519 U.S. at 39. It is true that in Mendez, the officers managed to ticket and question detained drivers simultaneously...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 27, 2008 (boomark / email).