What happened
The Seventh Circuit kept intact Deangelo Banks' felon-in-possession conviction, holding that police had enough basis to stop his car, use a drug-sniffing dog and search the vehicle after the dog alerted, and that the trial evidence supported the jury's finding that he knowingly possessed a handgun hidden inside.
Writing for a panel that included Judges Kenneth Ripple, John Lee and Doris Pryor, Judge Lee said the district court did not clearly err when it credited an officer's account that Banks failed to signal at least 100 feet before turning on a dark Decatur, Illinois, street. Although the district court acknowledged weaknesses in the officer's testimony, the panel said the credibility finding was not clearly erroneous.
The ruling matters for criminal defense and prosecution lawyers because it applies familiar but often contested Fourth Amendment limits to a short traffic stop that quickly turned into a dog-sniff search. The panel said the sniff did not unlawfully extend the stop because Banks was still on the phone trying to obtain updated insurance information when the dog sniff occurred.
Banks also argued that the dog's alert could not support probable cause because officers found no drugs in the car. The panel rejected that hindsight-based argument, with Judge Lee writing, "A dog’s alert on a car can give probable cause to search the entire car." The court said Banks offered no evidence undermining the dog's training, detection skills or the handler's interpretation of the alert.
The panel also found Banks had forfeited an argument based on an officer's questioning during the stop because he did not raise that ground in his suppression motion. Even aside from forfeiture, the court said the brief exchange did not show that officers delayed Banks' attempt to get insurance information.
On sufficiency, the court said the jury could rely on evidence that the gun was hidden in Banks' car near his personal items, that Banks was listed on the registration, that he had told officers the car and its contents belonged to him, and that recorded jail calls suggested knowledge of the gun. Viewing the evidence in the government's favor, the panel said a rational jury could find beyond a reasonable doubt that Banks knowingly possessed the firearm.