United States v. Coker

SUTTON, Circuit Judge.

An otherwise routine traffic stop turned into a criminal investigation when a police officer suspected that the driver, Jeris Coker, had drugs or guns in his car. The investigation uncovered that Coker was a felon in possession of a handgun — evidence that led to Coker’s guilty plea and 37-month prison sentence. Was the investigation leading to that discovery constitutional? Yes, we hold, and thus affirm.

Whether the Fourth Amendment allowed the officer’s investigation turns on what happened during Coker’s forty-minute traffic stop late at night in rural Tennessee. A…