United States v. Clay ( 1998 )

USCA1 Opinion

       [NOT FOR PUBLICATION   NOT TO BE CITED AS PRECEDENT]



                 United States Court of Appeals

                     For the First Circuit









No. 98-1564



                    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,



                            Appellee,



                                v.



                           JACKIE CLAY,



                      Defendant, Appellant.







           APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT



                FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS



           [Hon. Robert E. Keeton, U.S. District Judge]







                              Before



                      Selya, Circuit Judge,



          Aldrich and Campbell, Senior Circuit Judges.









     David Duncan, with whom Zalkind, Rodriguez, Lunt & Duncan was

on brief, for appellant.

     Marianne C. Hinkle, Assistant United States Attorney, with

whom Donald K. Stern, United States Attorney, was on brief, for the

United States.











November 10, 1998







          Per Curiam.  This is a single-issue criminal appeal in

which the defendant argues that the police lacked reasonable

suspicion to stop the taxicab in which he was traveling.  The

proper inquiry is fact-contingent, and an inquiring court must

consider the totality of the relevant circumstances.  See United

States v. Stanley, 915 F.2d 54, 55 (1st Cir. 1990).  Viewing the

circumstances here extant as a whole, through the eyes of

reasonable, yet experienced, police officers, see United States v.

Trullo, 809 F.2d 108, 112 (1st Cir. 1987), we have no doubt but

that the police had a sufficient basis reasonably to suspect that

the cab contained the individual who had attempted to commit the

crime.  See United States v. Kimball, 25 F.3d 1, 6 (1st Cir. 1994).

Consequently, the minimal intrusion that the stop entailed was

fully justified.  See id.



          We need go no further.  The judgment below will be



Affirmed.