The following excerpt is from United States v. Iwai, 930 F.3d 1141 (9th Cir. 2019):
is privileged conduct which cannot be considered as evidence of criminal wrongdoing." United States v. Prescott , 581 F.2d 1343, 1351 (9th Cir. 1978) ; see United States v. Mendonsa , 989 F.2d 366, 370 (9th Cir. 1993) ("A refusal to reply to an officer's order to open up can be implied from silence."). Iwai's decision to assert his Fourth Amendment right to refuse entry to the officers cannot be used to justify a finding of exigent circumstances.
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