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OR: Defendant was seized by being told to get out of the car; admission of drug possession suppressed

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant was stopped for a traffic infraction, and the officer determined that he had no valid DL. After deciding that he would ticket defendant and tow the vehicle he told defendant to get out of the vehicle and asked if he had any contraband on him. Defendant admitted that he did. The trial court found that he was not free to leave but that the question was valid. “There is no bright-line rule as to whether an officer's request that a person step out of a vehicle in the context of a traffic stop constitutes a seizure for purposes of Article I, section 9. Such a request is merely one of the factors that is part of the totality of the circumstances that must be evaluated.” Here, the totality shows that it was a seizure, and it should have been suppressed...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 26, 2010 (boomark / email).