United States v. Donnell Hopkins

MURPHY, Circuit Judge.

A Cedar Rapids police officer ordered his narcotics dog to sniff along the exterior walls of the building in which Donnell Hopkins rented a townhome. The dog alerted after sniffing within 6 to 8 inches of Hopkins’ front door. Police applied for a search warrant which an Iowa magistrate issued. When the police executed the search warrant they found a gun and drugs on Hopkins’ person and additional drugs inside the townhome.

The district court 1 denied Hopkins’ motion to suppress the evidence after concluding that although the dog sniff was unconstitutional under Florida v.…