⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

Moises Zamora challenges his federal methamphetamine conviction in the Ninth Circuit. In November 2022, a Montana deputy approached his parked car at a gas station and pulled the patrol car in behind it. Zamora drove off, police pursued him on icy roads, and the chase ended at a dead end. Officers later obtained a warrant to search the car and found methamphetamine. A jury convicted him of possession with intent to distribute. The district court denied his motion to keep the drug evidence out. A key question is whether the parking-lot encounter became an unlawful seizure before he drove away. If it did, the court will consider whether his later flight broke the connection between that police action and the evidence. That legal idea, attenuation, can allow evidence in when the connection to unlawful conduct has become sufficiently weakened. You will also hear chain of custody: the documented history of how evidence is collected, handled and transferred. Daniel Ball will argue for Zamora, seeking to overturn the conviction.

USA v. Zamora (No. 25-4625) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argued October 15, 2026.