## Facts

- Border Patrol agents operated a temporary checkpoint on U.S. Highway 70 near Lordsburg, New Mexico, using a marked van, pursuit vehicle, warning signs, cones, and flashing lights.
- Supervisors selected the checkpoint location; uniformed agents ran it when staffing and weather allowed.
- All westbound vehicles were stopped briefly for routine citizenship checks.
- Robert Payan, Jr. was stopped as part of this uniform procedure.
- During the encounter, agents searched Payan’s vehicle and found marijuana.
- Payan was charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana under 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(D).
- The district court denied Payan’s motion to suppress the marijuana.
- Payan entered a conditional guilty plea preserving the right to appeal the suppression ruling.

## Issues

1. Whether the checkpoint stop violated the Fourth Amendment because it should be treated like a roving patrol stop requiring individualized reasonable suspicion rather than a checkpoint stop permitted without suspicion.
2. Whether the vehicle search that uncovered marijuana was unlawful for lack of consent or probable cause, requiring suppression.

## Decision

- The Tenth Circuit affirmed the denial of the motion to suppress and upheld the conviction.
- The court held the checkpoint stop was constitutional as a checkpoint stop for brief citizenship inquiry.
- The court held the subsequent search was lawful on the record before it and did not require suppression of the marijuana.

## Legal Principles

- Brief, routine citizenship checks at checkpoint stops are permissible under the Fourth Amendment when conducted in a standardized manner consistent with checkpoint doctrine.
- A checkpoint is more likely to be treated as constitutionally permissible when its location and operation are determined by supervisory decisionmaking, it is plainly identifiable to motorists, and it stops vehicles uniformly rather than through agent-by-agent discretion.
- A lawful checkpoint stop may lead to a lawful vehicle search when the encounter yields legally sufficient grounds for a search (such as consent or probable cause), and suppression is not warranted absent a Fourth Amendment violation.

## Conclusion

The court upheld the temporary Border Patrol checkpoint as a valid, suspicionless citizenship-check stop and concluded that the ensuing search and seizure of marijuana did not violate the Fourth Amendment, so the evidence was admissible and the conviction stood.


United States v. Payan, 905 F.2d 1376 (10th Cir. 1990)