United States v. Everett (Sixth Circuit)

On the evening of April 15, 2008, Harvey Everett III helped his estranged wife move into a new house and retrieved some of his own belongings that he had been storing with her, including a shotgun. Needing to reach a tax-preparation office before its 9:00 p.m. closing, Everett drove there five to ten miles per hour over the speed limit. Detective Morgan Ford, a member of a Nashville police "Flex Team" patrol unit, saw him speeding and followed him to the tax office. After Everett parked, Ford approached his car, and, after detecting the odor of alcohol on his breath once he stepped out, asked him whether he had "anything illegal on his person, any weapons or narcotics or anything like that, or anything illegal in his vehicle," despite having no particularized suspicion that he possessed any contraband. Everett responded that he had an open forty-ounce beer and a .410 shotgun, which he knew he was not allowed to have as a convicted felon. A pat-down, to which Everett consented, turned up marijuana, and a subsequent search of his vehicle turned up the shotgun, the beer, and digital scales with cocaine residue. Ford ultimately released Everett with only misdemeanor citations, but the federal government later indicted him on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.