State's appeals sometimes make for interesting rulings. Something about Wilson seems wrong to me, aside from the fact that I did not think that dogs circling a vehicle constituted a "search" for fourth amendment purposes. Since Wilson admitted being on parole, was there no way to further detain him (since violating the speeding law might presumably also be a violation of condition of his parole-a matter more serious than just a Class C offense)?

That large Olde English font they use on the first page for "Eleventh Court of Appeals" just seems wrong...

Anyway, the way I read the opinion it doesn't address the search so much as the seizure. I think they are saying that the defendant's person and his vehicle were subject to unreasonable seizure (detention) at the time the drugs were found.

What I've been calling a bar ditch my whole life is really a 'borrow' ditch? Must be my west Texas upbringing.

They did use the word 'search' inappropriately. I agree what they were saying is that there was no basis to detain him after the traffic stop was over.

barrow pit -noun Western U.S. a roadside borrow pit dug for drainage purposes. Also called bar pit, bar ditch.

Origin:
appar. in reference to the mound of earth dug from the pit (see barrow 2 ); vars. with bar perh. from regional pron. of barrow

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2009.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/barrow%20pit

Thank you, Alex.

I've always called it a bar ditch too. Or sometimes it came out barred itch, depending on whether I was talking to a doctor or a wrecker driver.

I get it; like a "wheelbarrow"! Now it all makes sense.

Word Origin & History
barrow (1)
"vehicle for carrying a load," c.1300, barewe, probably from an unrecorded O.E. *bearwe "basket, barrow," from beran "to bear, to carry."
barrow (2)
"mound," O.E. beorg (W.Saxon), berg (Anglian) "hill," from P.Gmc. *bergaz (cf. O.S., O.Fris., O.H.G. berg "mountain," O.N. bjarg "rock"), from PIE base *bheregh- "high, elevated" (cf. O.C.S. bregu "mountain, height," O.Ir. brigh "mountain," Skt. b'rhant "high," O.Pers. bard- "be high"). Obsolete except in place-names and southwest England dialect by 1400; revived by archaeology. Barrow-wight first recorded 1891.
Online Etymology Dictionary, � 2001 Douglas Harper

'Cept I'm still gonna call it a "bar ditch" so folks don't think I'm puttin' on airs ..

As I understand the opinion, the officer was still awaiting Wilson's criminal history from dispatch when he deployed the sniffer dog around his car. Seems to me that holding him until he gets his criminal history is reasonable.

Even if the traffic stop was complete, I think there was sufficient information to warrant a Terry stop. The officer had observed the def. driving 90 mph in a 65 mph zone. The def. told the officer he was out on parole. He was excessively nervous and fidgety. He failed to follow simple orders. The officer acted promptly to deploy the sniffer dog. This seems to me to be quite a bit more suspicious behavior warranting a Terry stop than you have articulated by the courts in U.S. v. Sharpe, 470 U.S. 675 (1985). In fact, it is way more evidence than the cop had in Terry v. Ohio.

I'm with Terry. I don't see how this is not valid. Waiting for the CCH or DL return is a valid reason to wait, and until that is back, the traffic stop isn't over. Maybe the officer testified that he had already handed out the ticket or warning--that would possibly make the stop over, but otherwise, he wasn't "prolonging." I guess the officer testified that it was "prolonged", though, according to the opinion, but I wonder if those were his words, or the cross examining attorney, because no officer would use that term and probably wouldn't know the legal significance--unless he's one that reads a lot of caselaw (I've seen some officers that do). Most people would just think that meant it took some time for the return, not that the stop was pushed past the purpose of the investigation.

These kinds of opinions make it so hard for officers to know what they can and can't do. Waiting for the return from dispatch is pretty routine, and so is asking questions while waiting. And the canine sniff has been held not to be an invasion of 4th amendment space.

For a previous discussion of this type of traffic stop, click here.

For an explanation of why the officer should hold onto the citation or warning until AFTER the search, click here.

The fact that the def. is a parolee is another big reason that he has a lesser reasonable expectation of privacy than do free world folks. The opinion implies there is no difference in the status of a parolee and a free worlder.

In US v. Knights 534 US 112 (2001) the Supremes upheld the search of a probationer's house with mere "reasonable suspicion." In that case, the defendant had been told that a condition of his probation was that he had to submit to a search at any time. But the opinion seems to suggest that such an explicit condition is not necessary for the probationer to have a lesser expectation of privacy.

Does anyone know if a condition of Texas parole is that they submit to searches when requested?

I hope the State asks for discretionary review. This is a very bad decision.