Personal Dilemma Paper
Jocelyn Nelson
CJA 324
August 3, 2015
Frederick Brockmeier

On July 10, 2015, Sandra Bland was pulled over by Texas state trooper Brian Encinia for what was thought to be a routine traffic stop for not using her signal while changing lanes. For Sandra, what began as a routine traffic stop turned into an arrest and causing a three day detention and eventually her death.
The initial cause of death has been ruled a suicide, but after seeing the dashcam video and learning more about Bland’s life, several questions come to mind. One question is, ‘Was her arrest lawful under the constitution?”
The Nature of the Dilemma
According to Professor Jonathan Oberman – a professor of law and longtime director of the criminal defense clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law – three Supreme Court cases taken together may determine whether Encinia’s actions were legally justified. The first is Atwater v. City of Lago Vista, a 2001 case in which the high court determined that it is lawful under the Fourth Amendment for a law enforcement officer to arrest a person who has been stopped for a routine traffic violation. The second case is Rodriguez v. United States, a case the court just decided in April, which posed the question: During a routine traffic stop, what duration is considered legally legitimate, and under what circumstances can that duration be lawfully extended (Kleinman, 2014)? In this case officer Encinia was within the law to stop Bland and issue a citation, but at that point he was obligated by law to conclude the stop. Instead he chose to have an extended conversation with her which led to the back and forth verbal altercation that eventually led to her being taken out of her car and subsequently slammed into the ground and assault by Encinia and his partner.
That’s where Pennsylvania v. Mimms, a 1977 Supreme Court case, comes