Originally Posted by SgtScott31

That is an interesting case. Since this involved a narcotics stop (even in 1979), they probably had intel on the defendant prior to coming to the airport. It's interesting that the judges felt that the encounter was an "illegal" seizure before Lara was even asked to go downstairs. It seemed consensual to me, but there were quite a few facts left out (as the court mentioned). Each state's court has various articulatable facts as to what constitutes a seizure. I bet in this day and age, it may have been looked at as a consensual encounter, but that obviously we will never know.

The basis of the lower court's decision to deny the suppression of the cocaine was the simple fact that they felt that Lara had abandoned the bag when he left with the agents (by claiming it was not his), regardless of the agent's "illegal" seizure of Lara. The appellate court felt that the abandonment was part of the "illegal" seizure and remanded the decision back to the lower courts. This case does not have much to do with the checkpoint, but it is amazing that the court felt the mere presence of law enforcement constituted a seizure.