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OH5: Arguably pretextual stop was still objectively valid

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant was stopped for pulling to the curb without signaling, and this provided an objective basis for the stop, albeit arguably pretextual, that produced a plain view of rocks of crack on the floorboard. State v. Brunner, 2008 Ohio 4519, 2008 Ohio App. LEXIS 3804 (5th Dist. August 29, 2008): [*P19] Officer Diels reasonably believed that appellant had violated the traffic ordinance based upon his interpretation of the traffic code. He observed appellant pull to the curb on Second Street without signaling. The evidence was undisputed that appellant moved from his lane of travel to the curb without activating a turn signal. We find that although the traffic citation was minimal and perhaps pretextual, Officer Diels had reasonable suspicion to make the traffic stop...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 10, 2008 (boomark / email).