United States v. Ortiz

In July 2010, defendant-appellant Justin Ortiz and Jose Diaz-Meza visited a Houston gun store called SOG Armory (“SOG”) and spoke with employees Joshua Hernandez and Kyle Wright about purchasing a .50-caliber rifle. They showed him a Beowulf rifle, which he decided to buy. He completed the required ATF Form 4473, which warned it was illegal to purchase for someone else, and paid about $2,100 in cash. He bought one box of ammunition. After Hernandez showed Ortiz a second rifle of the same model, he decided to buy that one too and left the store to get more cash from an ATM. SOG employees were trained to identify straw purchases, and several aspects of the transaction had made Hernandez suspicious. Ortiz would later be charged with, and pled guilty to conspiracy to make false statements in connection with the acquisition of a firearm, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress. On appeal of his conviction, Ortiz argued that evidence seized from his vehicle should have been suppressed because agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (“ATF”) stopped him without reasonable suspicion and that statements he made to the agents should have been suppressed because they were obtained in violation of his Miranda rights. Finding no reversible error, the Fifth Circuit affirmed. View "United States v. Ortiz" on Justia Law