Traffic Virginia Drugs Suppress Motion Lawyers Stafford County

Commonwealth v. Darwin

Facts:

Defendant was convicted of possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute in the Stafford County Circuit Court, Virginia. This appeal followed wherein he argued that the court erred in denying his motion to suppress.

Traffic Virginia Drugs Suppress Motion Lawyers

Issue:

• Whether the trial court erred in denying Defendant’s motion to suppress?

Discussion:

Defendant was pulled over for failing to signal turn. It was later determined that he did not have a driver’s license. In the process of writing defendant a summons, the officer noticed a bulge in his defendant’s shoe and looked under the flap to find a bag of cocaine. The trial court denied defendant’s motion to suppress. On appeal, this was reversible error. The offenses allegedly committed were traffic offenses for which a citation, rather than a warrant would issue. The officer had no reason to believe defendant would not appear in court, nor did he believe appellant was a threat to himself or others. Further, defendant had not refused to discontinue his unlawful acts. The bulge in the shoe did not raise any officer safety concerns, nor did the officer believe the bulge would provide evidence in reference to the initial offenses. Here, the officer conducted a search incident to citation, which in the absence of one of the two historical rationales was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. The judgment of the circuit court was reversed and the case was dismissed.

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Article written by A Sris

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Disclaimer:

These summaries are provided by the SRIS Law Group. They represent the firm’s unofficial views of the Justices’ opinions. The original opinions should be consulted for their authoritative content.