United States v. Timothy Andrew Smith, Stephen Lawrence Swindell

KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge:

The issue in this case is whether the stop of appellants’ vehicle was reasonable under the fourth amendment. The district court upheld the stop on the ground that officers had reasonable suspicion that the appellants were smuggling drugs, and denied appellants’ motions to suppress. On appeal, the government has abandoned the position that the stop was a valid narcotics stop, and argues instead that the stop was a reasonable investigation of traffic offenses. This ground was rejected by the court below as pretextual. We agree with the district court that the traffic…