NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT JAN 14 2014
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 12-50582
Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. 5:11-cr-00088-VAP-1
v.
HECTOR RUIZ-BERNAL, a/k/a Hector MEMORANDUM*
Ruiz
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Virginia A. Phillips, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted January 9, 2014
Pasadena, California
Before: REINHARDT and CLIFTON, Circuit Judges, and RAKOFF, Senior
District Judge.**
Defendant-Appellant Hector Ruiz-Bernal appeals his conviction and
sentence, following his conditional guilty plea to possessing more than five
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The Honorable Jed S. Rakoff, Senior District Judge for the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation.
kilograms of cocaine with the intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C.
Sections 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(A)(ii). Defendant argues that the district court
improperly denied his motion to suppress evidence that was obtained after his
vehicle was stopped by Border Patrol agents on the Interstate 15 freeway.
Defendant challenges whether the agents had reasonable suspicion to effect the
stop.
This Court reviews a district court’s determination of reasonable suspicion
de novo, “reviewing findings of historical fact for clear error and giving due weight
to inferences drawn from those facts by resident judges and local law enforcement
officers.” United States v. Valdes-Vega, No. 10-50249, 2013 WL 6768095, at *2
(9th Cir. Dec. 24, 2013) (en banc) (internal quotation marks omitted).
The agents observed the defendant driving northward on Interstate Highway
15, in “an area where narcotics and alien smuggling frequently occurs.” Among
other suspicious circumstances, the defendant was smoking a cigarette and driving
with all of his windows rolled down despite cold, damp weather, behaviors that the
officers, based on their experience and training, reasonably believed were
consistent with those of smugglers trying to remove odors emanating from illegal
substances. The defendant’s vehicle was in a law enforcement database that
indicated that “the vehicle might be involved in narcotics smuggling through ports
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of entry.” Moreover, upon seeing the agents’ vehicle, the defendant engaged in
evasive driving tactics, including a marked reduction of his speed to fifteen miles
per hour below the posted speed limit.
In light of the totality of these circumstances, and giving due weight to the
agents’ experience and reasonable deductions, this Court finds that the district
court did not err in concluding that the Border Patrol agents had reasonable
suspicion for an investigative stop of the defendant’s vehicle. See United States v.
Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 273 (2002); Valdes-Vega, 2013 WL 6768095, at *2–4.
AFFIRMED.
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