COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
United States v. Tykei Garner
PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
___________
No. 19-1038
___________
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
TYKEI GARNER,
Appellant
___________
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. No. 1-16-cr-00341-002)
District Judge: Honorable John E. Jones III
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No. 19-1326
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
JERRY FRUIT,
Appellant
___________
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. No. 1-16-cr-00341-001)
District Judge: Honorable John E. Jones III
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Argued January 14, 2020
Before: HARDIMAN, PORTER, and PHIPPS, Circuit
Judges.
(Opinion Filed: May 29, 2020)
John F. Yaninek [Argued]
Thomas Thomas & Hafer
305 North Front Street
6th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Attorney for Appellant Tykei Garner
Keith M. Donoghue [Argued]
Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania
601 Walnut Street
The Curtis Center, Suite 540 West
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Attorney for Appellant Jerry Fruit
2
David J. Freed
Scott R. Ford [Argued]
Office of United States Attorney
Middle District of Pennsylvania
228 Walnut Street, P.O. Box 11754
220 Federal Building and Courthouse
Harrisburg, PA 17108
Attorney for Appellee United States of America
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OPINION OF THE COURT
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HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge.
These consolidated appeals require us to determine
whether a Pennsylvania state trooper unlawfully prolonged a
traffic stop. Appellants Jerry Fruit and Tykei Garner challenge
the District Court’s denial of their joint motion to suppress
evidence, claiming the traffic stop violated their Fourth
Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizures.
Garner also claims the District Court erred when it allowed the
Government to use his prior drug conviction as Rule 404(b)
evidence. Finally, Garner contends the evidence was
insufficient to convict him of a conspiracy to distribute heroin
and cocaine. We will affirm.
I
On July 5, 2016, Pennsylvania State Trooper Kent
Ramirez stopped a car with a New York license plate for
speeding on Interstate 81 near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Prior
3
to the stop, Trooper Ramirez ran the license plate and learned
the car was owned by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, though it lacked
the typical bar code rental stickers.
The entire traffic stop was recorded on Trooper
Ramirez’s dashcam. When Ramirez approached the passenger
side of the vehicle, he smelled a strong odor of air freshener
and noticed that each vent had an air freshener clipped to it.
Ramirez identified himself, asked for the driver’s license, and
explained that the driver was going 75 miles per hour in an area
with a posted speed limit of 55. Because traffic was noisy,
Ramirez asked the driver to exit the vehicle so they could talk
on the side of the road.
The driver identified himself as Jerry Fruit and gave
Ramirez his driver’s license and rental car agreement. In
response to an inquiry from Ramirez, Fruit said he was
traveling from Manhattan to Hagerstown, Maryland to visit his
cousin for about two days. He also identified his passenger,
Tykei Garner, as his cousin. The rental agreement listed Fruit
as the authorized driver of the vehicle, but limited to the state
of New York. And the agreement stated that it covered a rental
period of June 11–