United States v. Jesus Ramirez-Sandoval

FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

Defendant-appellant Jesus Ramirez-Sandoval entered a conditional guilty plea to the charge of transporting illegal aliens. He now appeals from the district court’s partial denial of his motion to suppress evidence. The district court held that certain evidence was admissible under the inevitable discovery exception to the exclusionary rule. We reverse.

I

FACTS

Sometime prior to July 22, 1987, Los Angeles Police Officer Juan Torres received reports from several merchants that they had, on a number of occasions, seen suspicious activity taking place near a red and white van…