 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Ciak v. State6/7/2004
was unenforceable). The principle stated in DeFillippo applies to the present case and compels the conclusion that our holding in this case that OCGA § 40-8-73.1 is unconstitutional does not, of itself, require suppression of the evidence seized during the traffic stop.
3. Ciak also contended in the trial court that the traffic stop based on OCGA § 40-8-73.1 could not be valid because the statute contains too many elements which cannot be ascertained by an officer merely observing a vehicle with tinted windows. Specifically, Ciak noted that an officer cannot determine before stopping the car whether the driver is a resident or nonresident, whether the tint was applied by the manufacturer or as an after-market modification, or whether the tint of a particular window meets the requirements of the statute. The trial court rejected that argument, as do we.
What Georgia law requires to justify an investigatory stop of a vehicle is an articulable suspicion of wrongdoing.
"An investigatory stop must be justified by some objective manifestation that the person stopped is, or is about to be, engaged in criminal activity.' This specific, articulable suspicion must be based on the totality of the circumstances--e.g., objective observations, information from police reports, the modes or patterns of certain kinds of lawbreakers, and the inferences drawn and deductions made by a trained law enforcement officer." [Cit.]
State v. Wright, 221 Ga.App. 202, 204(3), 470 S.E.2d 916 (1996). The undisputed facts before the trial court were that the officer conducting the stop in this case observed Ciak's car, noted that the windows were tinted a dark purple, and believed the tinting appeared darker than that permitted by OCGA § 40-8-73.1. This is not a case like Hameen v. State, 246 Ga.App. 599, 541 S.E.2d 668 (2000), where a stop based on § 40-8-73.1 was held invalid because the presence of an out-of-state license tag was **396 enough to show no violation of the statute could have occurred. By contrast, the officer who made the stop here observed a Georgia-registered vehicle with dark purple windows. The fact that the officer determined from a field test that a citation for violating OCGA § 40-8-73.1 was not warranted does not render the stop improper. State v. Wright, supra, 221 Ga.App. at 205, 470 S.E.2d 916 (fact that officer did not charge defendant with offenses on which stop based is immaterial).
*31 Applying the principles stated in State v. Wright, supra, we conclude that the objective observations of a trained officer were sufficient to support a reasonable suspicion that a violation of OCGA § 40-8-73.1 was occurring in his presence. The trial court did not err in denying the motion to suppress.
Judgment affirmed.
Page 1 2 3 Georgia DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|