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D.Utah: Stop based on alleged broken taillight lens was invalid and suppressed

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant's stop was without reasonable suspicion. The officer claimed that a cracked taillight with tape on it violated state law, but it did not. This was a mistake of law not fact, and suppression was warranted. United States v. Rosvall, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74089 (D. Utah August 20, 2009): The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit considered such a situation in Delfin-Colina, 464 F.3d at 398. In that case, a Pennsylvania state trooper had stopped the defendant after noticing a necklace or pendant hanging from the rearview mirror of the truck. The trooper later testified that he believed that having "anything" hanging from the rearview mirror violated Pennsylvania law. Id. at 395. But the trooper was wrong. As the court recognized after reviewing the relevant statute, an object hanging from the rearview mirror violated Pennsylvania law only if it was "positioned in such a way as to materially obstruct, obscure or impair the driver's vision through the front windshield...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 25, 2009 (boomark / email).