153941P.pdf   06/14/2017  United States  v.  Louis Hardison
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  15-3941
   U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Joplin   
   [PUBLISHED] [Riley, Author, with Gruender, Circuit Judge, and Schreier, 
   District Judge] 
   Criminal case - Criminal law. The district court did not err in combining 
   the evidentiary hearing on defendant's motion to suppress with his bench 
   trial where defendant filed his motion on the Friday before the Monday 
   trial date; there was no structural error in combining the matters; at no 
   point did defendant ask the court to limit his testimony only to the 
   motion to suppress and case law expressly allows a fact finder to consider 
   the testimony introduced on a motion to suppress during the merits of the 
   case if defendant fails to object to such use; the court did not err in 
   denying the motion to suppress as the police could reasonably conclude 
   that defendant had consented to a search, and the totality of the 
   circumstances supported the conclusion that his consent was voluntary.