 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
State v. Whitt11/18/2005
SMITH, P. J., ELLINGTON and ADAMS, JJ.
The State appeals from the trial court's order granting defendant Keith P. Whitt's motion to suppress.
The State does not challenge the trial court's factual findings, but argues that the trial court misapplied and misinterpreted the law by holding that once an officer concludes a traffic stop and tells a suspect he is free to leave, the officer cannot continue to lawfully detain a suspect unless the officer develops a reasonable, articulable suspicion of other criminal activity based on facts and circumstances not known or present during the initial investigation. In other words, if the officer concludes the traffic stop and tells a suspect he is free to leave, then the officer has necessarily concluded that the facts known to the officer at that point do not justify a continued detention based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. We agree that to the extent the trial court's order can be so construed, it misinterprets the law governing when a continued or second detention is legally permissible. "In reviewing a trial court's decision on a motion to suppress where the evidence was uncontroverted and no question regarding the credibility of witnesses was presented, an appellate court must conduct a de novo review of the trial court's application of law to the undisputed facts." Daniel v. State, 277 Ga. 840, 841 (1) (597 SE2d 116) (2004).
Our law is clear that a continued or "second" detention is authorized under certain circumstances:
Once the underlying basis for the initial traffic stop has concluded, it does not automatically follow that any further detention for questioning is unconstitutional. Fourth Amendment jurisprudence has clarified that (l)engthening the detention for further questioning beyond that related to the initial stop is permissible in two circumstances. First, the officer may detain the driver for questioning unrelated to the initial stop if he has an objectively reasonable and articulable suspicion illegal activity has occurred or is occurring. (Cit.) Second, further questioning unrelated to the initial stop is permissible if the initial detention has become a consensual encounter. Id. at 841 (1).
Both the trial court and Whitt rely on State v. Hanson, 243 Ga. App. 532 (532 SE2d 715) (2000) to support the proposition that once the stop ended the officer could not detain the individuals without some newly formed articulable suspicion. However, in Hanson, the stop was not based on the observation of a traffic offense, but rather the officer's suspicion that the driver might be driving under the influence. Thus, the scope of the stop was more limited at the outset, and once the officer's suspicion that the driver was under the influence was eliminated, the officer had no other justification for prolonging the stop. Id. at 539-540. In contrast, in this case, it is without dispute that the initial stop was based on the officer's direct observation of a traffic offense. Thus, there is no question that the officer was authorized to initiate the stop, investigate the violation and issue the appropriate citation. Once that was concluded, the officer was authorized to continue to detain the driver and Whitt, but only if there existed a reasonable, articulable suspicion of other criminal activity. " n officer must have reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct before conducting additional questioning and searching a vehicle once a normal traffic stop has ended and the officer has told the motorists they are free to go." (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Anderson v. State, 261 Ga. App. 657, 659 (583 SE2d 511) (2003). " o justify additional questioning of a driver and the search of his vehicle f
Page 1 2 3 4 Georgia DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|