People v. Johnson

Justice SCOTT delivered the Opinion of the Court.

In this case, we are called upon to review the district court’s order suppressing six ounces of cocaine confiscated from the luggage of the defendant as the defendant waited to board a plane bound for Ontario, California. We hold that the initial police-citizen encounter at issue here was not a seizure and that the defendant’s consent to the ensuing search of his luggage was given voluntarily. We therefore reverse the district court’s suppression order and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I

On November 5, 1992, while on…