UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 03-4764
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
JEFFERSON VIDAL,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Florence. C. Weston Houck, Senior District
Judge. (CR-02-812)
Submitted: December 29, 2004 Decided: January 13, 2005
Before LUTTIG, TRAXLER, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Joenathan S. Chaplin, JOENATHAN S. CHAPLIN, P.A., Columbia, South
Carolina, for Appellant. J. Strom Thurmond, Jr., United States
Attorney, Alfred W. Bethea, Jr., Assistant United States Attorney,
Florence, South Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Jefferson Vidal appeals his conviction following his
conditional guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute 500
grams or more of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1)
(2000). Prior to accepting the guilty plea, the district court
denied Vidal’s motion to suppress evidence seized pursuant to a
traffic stop on Interstate 95 in Florence County, South Carolina.
Vidal preserved the right to appeal the district court’s
suppression determination. We affirm the denial of his motion to
suppress.
This court reviews the factual findings underlying a
motion to suppress for clear error, and the district court’s legal
determinations de novo. Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690,
699 (1996); United States v. Perkins, 363 F.3d 317, 320 (4th Cir.
2004). When a district court has denied a suppression motion, we
review the evidence in the light most favorable to the government.
United States v. Seidman, 156 F.3d 542, 547 (4th Cir. 1998).
We find that the factors upon which the district court
relied in denying the motion to suppress provided reasonable
suspicion that Vidal was engaged in criminal activity. See United
States v. Foreman, 369 F.3d 776, 785 (4th Cir. 2004) (noting that
drug traffickers commonly use air fresheners in vehicles to mask
smell of narcotics); United States v. Brugal, 209 F.3d 353, 358
(4th Cir. 2000) (citing travel along I-95 and departure from a
- 2 -
source city as factors contributing to reasonable suspicion).
Accordingly, we affirm Vidal’s conviction. We dispense with oral
argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately
presented in the materials before the court and argument would not
aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
- 3 -