Case Summaries: Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (April 2022)

This post summarizes published criminal and related decisions released by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during April 2022. Decisions that may be of interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. Previous Fourth Circuit case summaries are available here. Stop was not unreasonably extended, and the trial court did not err in crediting officer’s testimony U.S. v. Perez, 30 F.4th 369 (April 7, 2022). The defendant was stopped for expired registration in the Western District of North Carolina. Law enforcement had received a confidential tip that the defendant was involved in drug sales, but the prosecution stipulated that the stop was solely based on the traffic violation. The stopping officer also suspected that the defendant’s temporary license tag was fictitious. More officers arrived on scene, and one officer requested the defendant’s license but did not request his registration. That officer called into police headquarters to check the license because he did not have a computer in his patrol car. At the same time, the stopping officer continued to investigate the license plate and began running computer checks on the driver’s license. The defendant was eventually asked about his registration but was unable to produce it. Six minutes into the stop, the defendant was asked to exit the car. At around the eight-minute mark, officers determined that the defendant’s license was suspended for impaired driving convictions. Officers then collected the VIN from the defendant’s car and determined that the car had a valid registration but was not registered to the defendant and [...]