Suppressing Evidence After a Stop Prolonged for a Dog Sniff

Attorney Answer

The rule you found is the right rule, and it may well apply to you — but it does not win by itself. Everything turns on whether the traffic stop was already finished, or should have been, when the dog was walked around your vehicle.

The Idaho decision that states the rule for your facts is State v. McGraw & Killeen, 163 Idaho 736, 418 P.3d 1245 (Ct. App. 2018). Applying the federal rule you read about, the Idaho Court of Appeals held that a dog sniff run during a still-ongoing lawful traffic stop does not violate the Fourth Amendment where the officers never abandoned the stop's purpose. In that case one officer took over and continued writing the citation while a second officer handled the dog, so the sniff added no time — and the court reversed the suppression orders. You should know that outcome, because it is the half of the opinion that cuts against defendants.

The half that helps you is stated in the same opinion: authority for the seizure ends when the tasks tied to the traffic infraction are completed, or reasonably should have been completed, and a dog sniff conducted after an otherwise-completed stop is unconstitutional absent independent reasonable suspicion for the sniff.

So the facts you describe are the right facts to be developing. You handed over your name, a valid registration and current proof of insurance. If nothing further was said about the alleged violation, if no citation was written, and if the dog was brought around three times while the citation work sat idle, that is the shape of an unlawfully prolonged stop. What decides it is not your memory of how long it felt — it is timestamps. Body camera and dash camera footage, dispatch records, and the time the citation was or was not issued are the case.

One thing to separate out: the fact that another person admitted the backpack, jacket and items were his goes to whether the State can prove you possessed them. That is a different argument from suppression, and it can matter a great deal, but do not let it substitute for the motion.

What you can do

1. Tell your attorney now, in writing, that you want a motion to suppress based on prolongation of the stop, and ask what the deadline is in your case. 2. Ask for discovery immediately and specifically: all body camera and dash camera footage from every officer present, dispatch and CAD logs with timestamps, the citation or proof that none was issued, the canine's training and certification records and deployment history, and the written reports of each officer. 3. Do not write out your own account of what happened. Notes you create yourself are not protected by attorney-client privilege, can be seized or subpoenaed, and can be used to impeach you if your testimony later differs. Instead preserve the records that already exist — texts, call logs, emails, receipts, photos and location history — along with the names and contact details of any witnesses, and give your account to your attorney verbally. Note anything you can anchor to a phone call or a clock. 4. Get the name and contact information of the person who told the officer the items were his, and give it to your attorney. Do not contact him about what to say. 5. Photograph the bruising on your hand and have it documented by a medical provider. Any claim about the force used is a separate matter from suppression, but the record has to be made now. 6. Do not discuss the case on recorded jail calls, with anyone but your lawyer, or on social media.

⏱ Time limits apply. Motions to suppress are governed by deadlines the court sets in your case, and those deadlines are commonly tied to the preliminary hearing or arraignment setting. Raise it with your attorney before that setting rather than after — the exact date depends on your case's schedule.