No. 20-1020 ___________________________

United States of America

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Anthony James Hanel

Defendant - Appellant ___________________________

No. 20-1023 ___________________________

United States of America

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Courtney Laparele Clark

Defendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Nebraska - Omaha ____________

Submitted: November 20, 2020 Filed: April 2, 2021 ____________ Before BENTON, ERICKSON, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________ GRASZ, Circuit Judge.

Based on evidence obtained during a traffic stop, the government filed charges against Anthony Hanel and Courtney Clark for illegally possessing guns and credit card counterfeiting equipment. Hanel and Clark sought to suppress all evidence obtained during what they claimed was an illegal search and seizure. The district court 1 denied those motions after concluding that the officers had reasonable suspicion of unlawful conduct when they stopped the vehicle. We affirm.

I. Background

Around 2:30 a.m., during a routine patrol of what they considered a high- crime area, Omaha Police Officers John Harney and Cory Buckley noticed a blue Dodge Durango with Minnesota license plates exiting a parking lot. Officer Buckley saw that the passenger was not wearing a seatbelt.

The officers followed the Durango onto an interstate highway, and Officer Buckley used the in-cruiser computer to try to verify the vehicle’s license plates using the National Crime Information Center (“NCIC”) database. His first search in NCIC returned no record. Officer Buckley verified the license plate number and reran it. This second search returned a response of “not on file.” Officer Buckley then asked dispatchers to check the license plate in the NCIC database. Simultaneously, the officers saw the Durango make what they believed to be an improper lane change. Based on that lane change, they pulled over the vehicle. As

1 The Honorable John M. Gerrard, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, adopting the findings and recommendations of the Honorable Michael D. Nelson, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Nebraska. -2- the officers exited their squad car, the dispatchers reported there was no valid registration for the vehicle.

Officer Harney approached the Durango’s driver’s side to speak with Clark. Officer Buckley approached the passenger’s side to speak with Hanel, who refused to identify himself. Based on that refusal and other suspicious behavior, the officers requested a portable fingerprint identification machine and a drug dog. The dog indicated that narcotics were in the vehicle. The officers then searched the Durango and detained Hanel and Clark.

Based on evidence obtained during that traffic stop, a grand jury indicted both Hanel and Clark for illegally possessing counterfeit access-device making equipment, possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, and possessing counterfeit and unauthorized access devices. It also indicted Hanel for illegally possessing a firearm as a felon.

Hanel and Clark both moved to suppress all evidence obtained during the traffic stop. They argued that the stop violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution because the officers lacked probable cause or reasonable suspicion. Specifically, they argued that the stated reason for the stop—Clark’s lane change—did not violate Nebraska law. While conceding that the lane change was legal, the government argued that the officers’ mistake was objectively reasonable. The magi