United States v. Olivares-Campos , 276 F. App'x 816 ( 2008 )


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  •                                                                          FILED
    United States Court of Appeals
    Tenth Circuit
    May 2, 2008
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    Elisabeth A. Shumaker
    TENTH CIRCUIT                     Clerk of Court
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
    Plaintiff-Appellee,
    No. 06-3411
    v.                                           (D.C. No. 06-CR-40074-001-JAR)
    (D. Kansas)
    JORGE LUIS OLIVARES-CAMPOS,
    Defendant-Appellant.
    ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
    Before LUCERO, HOLLOWAY, and GORSUCH, Circuit Judges.
    Jorge Olivares-Campos challenges the district court’s denial of his motion
    to suppress drugs found in a search of his truck. Mr. Olivares-Campos argues that
    what began as a consensual encounter at a gas station became an illegal detention
    when the sheriff’s deputy retained his license and registration without reasonable
    suspicion, and this illegal detention tainted his subsequent consent to the deputy’s
    request to search his truck, thus requiring suppression of the drugs found in that
    search as “fruit of a poisonous tree.” Even assuming the deputy seized Mr.
    *
    This order and judgment is not binding precedent except under the
    doctrines of law of the case, res judicata and collateral estoppel. It may be cited,
    however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th
    Cir. R. 32.1.
    Olivares-Campos within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when he retained
    his license and registration, we hold that reasonable suspicion of criminal activity
    existed at that time sufficient to justify a lawful investigative detention. Mr.
    Olivares-Campos’s subsequent consent to the search of his truck therefore was
    not tainted by an illegal seizure, and neither does it bear any other indicia of
    unlawful coercion. Accordingly, we affirm.
    I
    Mr. Olivares-Campos stopped for gas at Kelly’s Express in Topeka,
    Kansas, near Interstate 70, on an April morning in 2005. While Mr. Olivares-
    Campos filled up his pickup truck, Shawnee County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian
    Rhodd arrived and parked his patrol car in front of the convenience store attached
    to the gas station. Deputy Rhodd observed that Mr. Olivares-Campos’s truck had
    a California license plate, and he noticed Mr. Olivares-Campos stealing glances at
    him.
    Deputy Rhodd approached Mr. Olivares-Campos and asked if he could
    speak with him, and Mr. Olivares-Campos agreed. Deputy Rhodd inquired about
    Mr. Olivares-Campos’s travel plans; Mr. Olivares-Campos replied that he was
    traveling from California to Kansas City, where he planned to find work on a golf
    course. Mr. Olivares-Campos explained that he did not know where he was going
    to live in Kansas City and that he had to call someone when he arrived. Deputy
    -2-
    Rhodd noticed that the bed of the truck contained only extension cords and Mr.
    Olivares-Campos was traveling with only one small bag.
    During the pair’s conversation, it came out that Mr. Olivares-Campos did
    not own the truck he was driving and that he only knew the owner by his first
    name, Francisco. He offered the vehicle registration to Deputy Rhodd, which
    showed the truck was owned by a Francisco Rosales. Deputy Rhodd then asked
    Mr. Olivares-Campos for his license. Deputy Rhodd later testified that as Mr.
    Olivares-Campos held out his documents his hand shook severely – so much so
    that he could not still it – and his heart pounded visibly through his shirt.
    While Mr. Olivares-Campos went to pay for the gas inside the convenience
    store, Deputy Rhodd took the vehicle registration and driver’s license to his patrol
    car to run checks through dispatch. At this time he also moved his patrol car next
    to Mr. Olivares-Campos’s truck, though without blocking it, and called Deputy
    Tracey Trammel, a canine handler, to the scene for assistance. When Mr.
    Olivares-Campos returned from paying for the gas, Deputy Rhodd returned his
    documents and asked where and with whom he was staying in Kansas City. Mr.
    Olivares-Campos said he was going to stay with his friend Francisco, the owner
    of the vehicle. Deputy Rhodd then asked how Mr. Olivares-Campos had come
    into possession of the truck, and Mr. Olivares-Campos explained that he had
    flown from Washington state to California to pick up the truck and was driving it
    to Kansas City as a favor for Francisco. During this conversation, dispatch
    -3-
    reported that Mr. Olivares-Campos’s license was expired, but that he had no
    criminal history, and that the truck was registered in California to Francisco
    Rosales. Deputy Rhodd advised Mr. Olivares-Campos to take care of his expired
    license but later testified that he would not have arrested him for this offense.
    After this, Deputy Rhodd wrapped up the conversation, saying “hey, I
    appreciate it, okay,” and Mr. Olivares-Campos replied “thanks, man.” But then
    Deputy Rhodd inquired if he could ask Mr. Olivares-Campos a few more
    questions. Though Mr. Olivares-Campos responded that he had to go, Deputy
    Rhodd nonetheless began asking whether there was anything illegal in the vehicle.
    Deputy Rhodd asked specifically whether Mr. Olivares-Campos was transporting
    marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, or illegal drugs. Mr. Olivares-
    Campos denied all of this, but Deputy Rhodd later testified that when Mr.
    Olivares-Campos denied transporting methamphetamine, he looked away in a
    manner Deputy Rhodd interpreted as deceitful.
    Deputy Rhodd then asked for permission to search the truck, and Mr.
    Olivares-Campos agreed. Deputy Rhodd asked whether Mr. Olivares-Campos
    was more comfortable reading in Spanish or English, and when Mr. Olivares-
    Campos responded that he was more comfortable with Spanish, Deputy Rhodd
    provided him with a consent to search form that was written in Spanish, which
    Mr. Olivares-Campos read and signed. The form clarified that Mr. Olivares-
    Campos did not have to consent to the search or sign the form and that, by signing
    -4-
    the form, he acknowledged that no promises, threats, force, or coercion had been
    used against him to secure his consent or signature.
    While Mr. Olivares-Campos was reading the consent form, Deputy
    Trammel arrived with his drug detection dog, which he ran around the truck. The
    dog did not alert. After Mr. Olivares-Campos signed the consent form, Deputy
    Rhodd directed him to move his truck to the south end of the parking lot, where
    he and Deputy Trammel began to search it. They noticed a heavy undercoating
    spray under the bed of the truck, which they testified is sometimes used to
    disguise welds and other indications of a hidden compartment fashioned for
    carrying contraband. Deputy Trammel also noticed freshly tooled bolts,
    suggesting to him that the bed of the truck had been removed recently, though the
    bed itself was not new. Eventually, Deputy Trammel drilled a hole up into the
    truck and, using a probe, discovered a cavity containing something movable and
    saw cellophane. The deputies asked Mr. Olivares-Campos to follow them in his
    truck to the sheriff’s office approximately seven miles away; there they ultimately
    found fourteen packages amounting to 5,820 grams of methamphetamine inside
    the hidden compartment.
    Charged with possessing with intent to distribute approximately seven
    kilograms of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of
    methamphetamine, in violation of 
    21 U.S.C. § 841
    (a)(1) and (b)(1)(A), Mr.
    Olivares-Campos moved to suppress the drugs as fruits of an illegal detention and
    -5-
    search. 1 The district court denied the motion, finding that the entire encounter
    was consensual. Alternatively, even if Mr. Olivares-Campos was detained, the
    court held that reasonable suspicion existed that he was involved in trafficking
    drugs and he thereafter freely consented to the search of his vehicle. After the
    court’s ruling, Mr. Olivares-Campos entered a conditional guilty plea, reserving
    the right to appeal the district court’s suppression order.
    II
    As in all appeals from a district court’s order on a motion to suppress, we
    approach Mr. Olivares-Campos’s appeal viewing the record evidence in the light
    most favorable to the district court’s ruling and accepting its factual findings
    unless clearly erroneous; we assess de novo, however, the legal questions of
    whether a seizure occurred and whether it was reasonable under the Fourth
    Amendment. United States v. Cortez-Galaviz, 
    495 F.3d 1203
    , 1205 (10th Cir.
    2007). With these standards of review in mind, we first address the question
    whether the entire encounter at the gas station was consensual or, alternatively,
    whether Deputy Rhodd had reasonable suspicion sufficient to support an
    investigative detention; thereafter, we examine Mr. Olivares-Campos’s challenge
    to the search of his vehicle.
    1
    Before the district court, Mr. Olivares-Campos also disputed whether the
    deputies exceeded the scope of his consent when they drilled into his truck. The
    district court ruled against him on this score, and Mr. Olivares-Campos has not
    contested that ruling on appeal.
    -6-
    A
    In accord with the district court’s primary holding, the government begins
    by suggesting that Mr. Olivares-Campos’s entire encounter with Deputy Rhodd
    was consensual. Mr. Olivares-Campos responds that what started as a consensual
    encounter became an investigatory detention, for which reasonable suspicion was
    required, when Deputy Rhodd took Mr. Olivares-Campos’s license and
    registration to run checks on them. This poses us with a somewhat novel question
    of law.
    On the one hand, it is well settled that police may ask to see identification
    without effecting a seizure. See Florida v. Bostick, 
    501 U.S. 429
    , 434-35 (1991);
    United States v. Johnson, 
    364 F.3d 1185
    , 1188-89 (10th Cir. 2004). On the other
    hand, our precedent also “clearly establishes that when law enforcement officials
    retain an individual’s driver’s license in the course of questioning him, that
    individual, as a general rule, will not reasonably feel free to terminate the
    encounter,” the defining characteristic of a Fourth Amendment seizure. United
    States v. Lambert, 
    46 F.3d 1064
    , 1068 (10th Cir. 1995); see also United States v.
    Guerrero, 
    472 F.3d 784
    , 786-87 (10th Cir. 2007); United States v. Lopez, 
    443 F.3d 1280
    , 1285 (10th Cir. 2006); United States v. Guerrero-Espinoza, 
    462 F.3d 1302
    , 1308-09 (10th Cir. 2006). And to be lawful, such a seizure requires, in the
    case of an investigatory detention, reasonable suspicion that illegal activity is
    afoot. See United States v. Lopez, 
    518 F.3d 790
    , 797 (10th Cir. 2008).
    -7-
    This case seems to fall somewhere between these two poles. The deputy
    did more than examine Mr. Olivares-Campos’s license and registration; he took
    the documents for several minutes, went to his squad car, and ran a background
    check. We have consistently recognized that a reasonable person does not feel
    free to leave when the police officer is retaining his or her license and registration
    to perform such a check. See Lopez, 
    443 F.3d at 1285-86
    ; Lambert, 
    46 F.3d at 1068-69
    . After all, one can hardly drive off without such documents – at least
    without surely violating the law. See, e.g., 
    Kan. Stat. Ann. § 8-244
    . 2 At the same
    time, as the district court observed, in this particular case Mr. Olivares-Campos
    had to go inside the convenience store to pay for his gas while the deputy retained
    the documents, and he received the documents back as soon as he returned. The
    interaction took place in public, the deputy never told Mr. Olivares-Campos he
    was not free to leave, and the deputy did not use his car to block Mr. Olivares-
    Campos’s truck from the gas station exit. Under this particular fact pattern, the
    government argues, a reasonable person would not have felt constrained from
    departing when he or she wished.
    2
    “While we agree with the government that Mr. Lambert could have left
    the airport by plane, taxi, or simply walking down the street, as a practical matter
    he was not free to go. . . . He could not lawfully leave the parking lot in his car
    without his driver’s license. The question of whether an individual has been
    detained turns on whether a person under the circumstances would reasonably feel
    at liberty to refuse the agents’ questions or otherwise terminate the encounter.
    The question is not . . . whether it is conceivable that a person could leave the
    location of that encounter.” Lambert, 
    46 F.3d at 1068
    .
    -8-
    Happily, we need not resolve this question. Even assuming that Deputy
    Rhodd did effect a seizure when he took Mr. Olivares-Campos’s license, our
    precedent reveals that, by that time, he had reasonable suspicion that criminal
    activity was afoot and thus a lawful basis to effect an investigative detention. See
    Lopez, 
    518 F.3d at 797
    . We accordingly affirm the district court on the basis of
    its alternative holding.
    B
    In assessing whether reasonable suspicion existed to support an
    investigative detention, a question of law, we look at the totality of the
    circumstances, viewed from the standpoint of an objectively reasonable police
    officer and granting deference to the officer’s training and experience, to
    determine whether a particularized and objective basis existed for suspecting
    illegal activity. 
    Id.
     The reasonable suspicion standard “requires an officer to
    have ‘some minimal level of objective justification,’ but he or she ‘need not rule
    out the possibility of innocent conduct as long as the totality of the circumstances
    suffices to form a particularized and objective basis for [an investigative] stop.’”
    Cortez-Galaviz, 
    495 F.3d at 1206
     (quoting INS v. Delgado, 
    466 U.S. 210
    , 217
    (1984) and United States v. Vercher, 
    358 F.3d 1257
    , 1261 (10th Cir. 2004)).
    Thus, the reasonable suspicion requirement is “obviously less demanding than
    that for probable cause.” United States v. Sokolow, 
    490 U.S. 1
    , 7 (1989). In this
    -9-
    case, several factors recognized by our case law lead us to conclude that standard
    was met.
    First, Mr. Olivares-Campos was driving a truck registered to someone else,
    the owner was not present, and Mr. Olivares-Campos could only identify the
    owner by his first name. While not unavoidably associated with unlawful
    activity, we have often held the fact that a vehicle’s owner is an absent third-party
    to be a suspicious circumstance indicating a stolen vehicle or drug trafficking,
    especially when the driver cannot provide details about the owner or proof of
    authority to operate the vehicle. See, e.g., United States v. Hunnicutt, 
    135 F.3d 1345
    , 1349 (10th Cir. 1998) (“[T]he inability to offer proof of ownership or
    authorization to operate the vehicle has figured prominently in many of our cases
    upholding further questioning.”); United States v. Turner, 
    928 F.2d 956
    , 959
    (10th Cir. 1991) (vehicle registered to someone other than driver or passenger).
    Second, Mr. Olivares-Campos was traveling with only one small bag – an
    amount of luggage seemingly inconsistent with the stated purpose of his trip and
    something our case law holds sufficiently suspicious that it may contribute to
    reasonable suspicion of involvement in illegal activity. See, e.g., United States v.
    Arango, 
    912 F.2d 441
    , 443, 447 (10th Cir. 1990) (two small bags for a two-person
    two week vacation); United States v. Espinosa, 
    782 F.2d 888
    , 891 (10th Cir.
    1986) (“very little luggage” despite claim of being on vacation). Mr. Olivares-
    Campos replies that it is possible he wanted to secure work in Kansas City before
    - 10 -
    moving all of his possessions, and this is certainly a plausible explanation for
    traveling light. But, as we have already indicated, an officer need not rule out all
    innocent explanations of the conduct he or she observes, see Cortez-Galaviz, 
    495 F.3d at 1206
    , and factors that are entirely innocent when taken separately can,
    when taken together, reasonably suggest illegal conduct, Lopez, 
    518 F.3d at 797
    .
    Third, Mr. Olivares-Campos’s uncertainty about where he was going in
    Kansas City contributes to the mix. He initially told Deputy Rhodd that he did
    not know where he was going to stay in Kansas City and that he had to call
    someone when he arrived. Deputy Rhodd testified that
    [t]his is a very common – in my experience, this has been a very
    common statement made by people who are making up their story as
    they’re going. They don’t really know where they’re going because
    they don’t know the people that they’re going to see. Somebody that
    the person that they got the drugs from has set up with them, gave
    them a phone number, and they don’t really know what they’re
    supposed to do when they get there, just call. And that’s how they
    do the drug transaction. That’s why they don’t know any details.
    R. Vol. II at 15. We have found similar situations, in which the driver’s
    particular destination was unknown or could not be pinpointed, to contribute to
    the reasonable suspicion of an experienced officer. See, e.g., United States v.
    Mendez, 
    118 F.3d 1426
    , 1431-32 (10th Cir. 1997); United States v. Kopp, 
    45 F.3d 1450
    , 1453-54 (10th Cir. 1995).
    Finally, Deputy Rhodd testified that he observed Mr. Olivares-Campos
    shaking severely and his heart visibly pounding. Although nervousness is of
    - 11 -
    limited significance and must be treated with caution under our case law, United
    States v. Fernandez, 
    18 F.3d 874
    , 879 (10th Cir. 1994), it does contribute
    something more than nothing “to the overall calculus of suspicious behavior,
    especially when, as here, it is extreme.” United States v. Contreras, 
    506 F.3d 1031
    , 1036 (10th Cir. 2007); see also United States v. Williams, 
    271 F.3d 1262
    ,
    1268-69 (10th Cir. 2001) (extreme or continued nervousness).
    That the combination of these factors paints a picture sufficient to raise an
    officer’s reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot is demonstrated by a
    comparison to cases where we have found reasonable suspicion present in
    similarly, and even arguably less, telling circumstances. For example, in United
    States v. Soto, 
    988 F.2d 1548
     (10th Cir. 1993), the defendant claimed that his
    uncle was the registered owner of the vehicle he was driving, but he could not, or
    would not, provide his uncle’s address. He also appeared nervous or “panicky,”
    as his hands were visibly shaking. 
    Id. at 1550
    . The court concluded that these
    two circumstances – the defendant’s nervousness and the relatively little
    information he knew about the registered owner of the vehicle – provided
    reasonable suspicion for the officer to detain the defendant for additional
    questioning about narcotics and weapons. 
    Id. at 1556
    .
    Similarly, in United States v. Arango, 
    912 F.2d 441
     (10th Cir. 1990), we
    found reasonable suspicion that the vehicle was being used to carry contraband
    based on the defendant’s inadequate amount of luggage and his inability to prove
    - 12 -
    lawful possession of the vehicle. 
    Id. at 447
    . In that case, the defendant told the
    officer that the registered owners were friends who had loaned him the truck, but
    when the officer asked for the owners’ phone number, the defendant insisted they
    did not have a phone – a fact confirmed by the police dispatcher – so the officer
    was unable to contact the owners. 
    Id. at 443
    . In addition, the defendant claimed
    to be on a two week vacation, but the two small bags in the bed of the truck
    appeared inadequate luggage for both the defendant and his passenger on a trip of
    that length. 
    Id.
     Based on these two factors, the court concluded that the officer
    had reasonable suspicion to detain the defendant for further questioning. 
    Id. at 447
    ; see also Turner, 
    928 F.2d at 959
     (reasonable suspicion based on
    nervousness, the fact that the car was not registered to the driver or passenger,
    and the driver’s claim to be a mechanic despite a personal appearance and
    compact disc collection supposedly inconsistent with that occupation); Espinosa,
    
    782 F.2d at 891
     (reasonable suspicion based on hesitation prior to answering
    questions, temporary license plate, travel from drug source area, and relative lack
    of luggage for vacation). 3
    3
    Mr. Olivares-Campos urges us to compare his case to United States v.
    Wood, 
    106 F.3d 942
     (10th Cir. 1997), where he claims law enforcement had
    greater reason for suspicion than here but we held the totality of the
    circumstances insufficient to support an investigative detention. In fact, however,
    “[a]fter stripping away the factors which must be disregarded because they are
    innocuous, [the Wood court was] left with Mr. Wood’s nervousness and his prior
    narcotic history.” 
    Id. at 948
    . The current case presents both more and stronger
    factors than the two present in Wood, especially the absent third-party vehicle
    (continued...)
    - 13 -
    Having emphasized what influences our decision, we think it equally
    important to emphasize what does not. We do not reference Mr. Olivares-
    Campos’s expired driver’s license in our reasonable suspicion calculus because
    Deputy Rhodd only discovered this fact after he retained the license and, on our
    hypothesis, effected a detention. The government invites us to rely upon three
    other facts – (1) Mr. Olivares-Campos was traveling from a drug source state to a
    drug destination city, (2) there were food wrappers in the vehicle, and (3) there
    was a religious picture on the dash – but we decline the invitation. Travel
    between “known drug source states” (California) and “destination areas” (Kansas
    City) is “so consistent with innocent activity as to do little when standing alone to
    add to the reasonable suspicion calculus.” Lopez, 
    518 F.3d at 799
    . Although the
    factor does not, of course, stand alone in this case, it is nevertheless “relatively
    weak,” 
    id.,
     and not essential to our conclusion that reasonable suspicion existed
    here. We have also previously foreclosed the possibility that finding food
    wrappers in vehicles is of much use in assessing reasonable suspicion of drug
    activity because remnants from fast-food restaurants have, to put it mildly,
    “become ubiquitous in modern interstate travel”; as anyone who travels cross-
    country on I-70 well knows, fast food exists in overabundance and fuels many
    3
    (...continued)
    owner, about whom Mr. Olivares-Campos knew little, an amount of luggage
    inconsistent with the purpose of his trip, and his unknown destination in Kansas
    City, in addition to the shared (and less probative) factor of nervousness.
    - 14 -
    long haul drives. United States v. Wood, 
    106 F.3d 942
    , 947 (10th Cir. 1997)
    (“[A]ny suspicion associated with [food wrappers] is virtually nonexistent.”). We
    are also at a loss to see how the presence of religious iconography, like a St.
    Christopher medallion or a depiction of Jesus (found in so many cars and trucks
    that it has inspired a popular American folk song 4), could, without some
    convincing additional factual predicate (such as the affiliation of certain gangs
    with particular religious symbols), contribute anything of value suggesting illegal
    activity as opposed to honest devotion. See Guerrero, 
    472 F.3d at 788
     (religious
    iconography provides “no reasonable indicium of wrongdoing”).
    C
    Having determined that his detention was lawful, the remaining question
    before us concerns the search of Mr. Olivares-Campos’s vehicle. Mr. Olivares-
    Campos concedes that he consented to the search of his truck, but argues that,
    because his initial detention was unlawful, his subsequent consent is, as it were,
    fruit of a poisonous tree. See United States v. Gregory, 
    79 F.3d 973
    , 979-80
    (10th Cir. 1996) (holding that consent to search was tainted by preceding illegal
    detention and therefore invalid); United States v. Maez, 
    872 F.2d 1444
    , 1453
    (10th Cir. 1989) (“If the consent is not sufficiently an act of free will to purge the
    4
    Ed Rush & George Cromarty, Plastic Jesus, on Here They Are! The
    Goldcoast Singers (World Pacific Records 1962). (Other renditions are many and
    diverse, and include those by Ernie Marrs, Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, and
    Billy Idol.)
    - 15 -
    primary taint of the illegal arrest, it must be suppressed as fruit of the poisonous
    tree.”). But the major premise of this argument – the unlawfulness of Mr.
    Olivares-Campos’s detention – is flawed, as we have seen. His conclusion
    therefore does not follow: Mr. Olivares-Campos was lawfully detained, so his
    consent to the search cannot be said to be “poisonously” tainted by that
    detention. 5
    Reading Mr. Olivares-Campos’s brief charitably, he might be understood to
    make the additional and somewhat different argument that, even if his detention
    was lawful, his consent to search was nevertheless invalid because it was the
    product of unlawful coercion – that is, his consent was not voluntary. Thus
    understood, Mr. Olivares-Campos’s argument requires an inquiry into “whether a
    reasonable person would believe he or she was free to leave or disregard the
    officer’s request under the totality of the circumstances.” United States v.
    Cardenas-Alatorre, 
    485 F.3d 1111
    , 1118 (10th Cir. 2007) (quotation omitted).
    The district court made just such an inquiry and found, as a matter of fact, that
    5
    It is not altogether clear to us whether on appeal Mr. Olivares-Campos
    seeks the suppression of certain inculpatory statements (made to law enforcement
    after the search and receiving Miranda warnings) on the basis that they, too, are
    fruits of an illegal seizure. See Harsco Corp. v. Renner, 
    475 F.3d 1179
    , 1190
    (10th Cir. 2007) (“[A] party waives those arguments that its opening brief
    inadequately addresses.”); Adler v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 
    144 F.3d 664
    , 679
    (10th Cir. 1998) (collecting cases). But any such argument would fail for the
    same reason – viz., Mr. Olivares-Campos’s detention was lawful and thus could
    not taint anything that followed.
    - 16 -
    Mr. Olivares-Campos’s consent was voluntary. We cannot conclude this factual
    finding was clearly erroneous.
    Although the fact that one is detained during an investigation no doubt
    implies an atmosphere not altogether consensual, our precedent firmly instructs us
    that the fact of an investigative detention, standing alone, is not so coercive as to
    render the consent of all detained persons involuntary. See United States v.
    McRae, 
    81 F.3d 1528
    , 1537 (10th Cir. 1996) (“A person who is being detained
    may still give a voluntary consent.”); Soto, 
    988 F.2d at 1557
     (“Valid consent may
    be given by a person being detained.”). Instead, detention is only one factor to
    consider in assessing whether the totality of the circumstances would have
    communicated to a reasonable person that he or she was not free to decline a
    request to search. See Contreras, 
    506 F.3d at 1037
    . Here, there are no other
    meaningful factors to consider. None of the classic telltales of consent
    unlawfully extracted exist in this record – no threats, brandishing of weapons,
    aggressive language, or the like. 6 The deputy requested permission to search
    during the day, in a public place, after he had already returned Mr. Olivares-
    6
    “Courts have identified several factors that could lead a reasonable
    innocent person to believe he is not free to disregard the police officer, including:
    the threatening presence of several officers; the brandishing of a weapon by an
    officer; some physical touching by an officer; use of aggressive language or tone
    of voice indicating that compliance with an officer’s request is compulsory;
    prolonged retention of a person’s personal effects . . . ; a request to accompany
    the officer to the station; interaction in a nonpublic place or small, enclosed
    space; and absence of other members of the public.” United States v. Sanchez, 
    89 F.3d 715
    , 718 (10th Cir. 1996).
    - 17 -
    Campos’s license and registration, and during a calm and professional
    conversation. After Mr. Olivares-Campos gave his consent to the search orally,
    the deputy offered him a written consent form, and when Mr. Olivares-Campos
    indicated he was more comfortable with Spanish, the deputy supplied a form in
    that language. Not only did the deputy secure both oral and written consent, but
    the written consent form expressly stated that “no promises, threats, physical or
    mental coercion of any kind whatsoever” had been used to secure Mr. Olivares-
    Campos’s consent. D. Ct. Order at 10. We have routinely found consent given
    under similar, and even arguably less convincing, circumstances to be free of
    unlawful coercion. See, e.g., Contreras, 
    506 F.3d at 1037
    ; United States v. Zubia-
    Melendez, 
    263 F.3d 1155
    , 1162-63 (10th Cir. 2001). 7
    ***
    Mr. Olivares-Campos voluntarily consented to the search of his truck in the
    course of a legal investigative detention. The evidence discovered as a result of
    7
    The only factor even arguably tending in a different direction is the fact
    that Deputy Trammel apparently arrived on the scene with his drug detection dog
    at some point before Mr. Olivares-Campos signed the consent form. But Mr.
    Olivares-Campos does not allege that Deputy Trammel or the dog approached him
    at that time, and the video of the stop shows Deputy Trammel leading the dog
    around the truck (on camera) as Mr. Olivares-Campos signed the consent form
    (off camera), after he had already given verbal consent. Standing alone, this
    factor does not make the district court’s finding of voluntariness clearly
    erroneous. See United States v. Chavira, 
    467 F.3d 1286
    , 1291 (10th Cir. 2006)
    (holding consent voluntary despite presence of a second police officer on the
    scene); United States v. Taverna, 
    348 F.3d 873
    , 879 (10th Cir. 2003) (holding
    consent voluntary despite presence of patrol dog in the car with the defendant
    when consent to search requested).
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    that search may therefore lawfully be used against him, and the order of the
    district court is affirmed.
    ENTERED FOR THE COURT
    Neil M. Gorsuch
    Circuit Judge
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