The "reasonable person" has no race; trial court has "ample" discretion regarding voir dire

United States v. Mercado-Gracia, ___F.3d ___ (10th Cir. 2021)(4th amendment-car; jury voir dire) – The Tenth doubles down on race not being part of the reasonable person standard; i.e., there is no reasonable race-of-your-choice person standard. Thus, in a car stop when the cop calls the driver back, if the driver goes back, the idea that certain races may feel less free to disobey and officer than a white person is of no import. Also, during the consensual encounter, the officer developed reasonable suspicion because Mr. Mercado-Gracia gave confusing explanations for his trip to Albuquerque; did not know the last name of the car’s owner; changed his answer on who was the owner: first a cousin, second: his lady’s husband’s cousin; additionally, he was traveling from Phoenix, a known drug “source city”; and he became increasingly nervous. Thus even though he said no search, because of the reasonable suspicion the officer could run a drug-sniffing dog around the car. The dog alerted and drugs were found. Judges have “ample” discretion in how to run voir dire so the court did not abuse judicial discretion by declining to show a video on implicit bias. At trial, the district court suggested asking about Mr. Mercado-Gracia’s nationality, defense counsel agreed to the question and did ask follow-up questions during her voir dire so the Tenth Circuit felt this undercut the need for the implicit bias video. However, this opinion could be read as providing discretion to show such a video.