Groves v. State
306 Ga. App. 779
| Ga. Ct. App. | 2010Background
- Officer observed a lone sedan at the edge of an empty truck plaza parking lot, with Groves driving and Smith as a passenger; Groves briefly leaned into the passenger side without noticing the officer.
- After about 1.5 minutes, Groves looked up, noticed the patrol car, and attempted to drive away; the officer activated emergency lights and stopped the vehicle.
- Following the stop, the officer smelled alcohol on Groves, obtained consent to search, and found crushed oxycodone in the glove box.
- Groves and Smith were arrested for possession of oxycodone under the Georgia Controlled Substances Act; they moved to suppress the evidence from the stop.
- The trial court denied the motions to suppress, and the defendants appealed interlocutorily, challenging the stop as unsupported by Fourth Amendment justification.
- The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed, holding the initial traffic stop was unlawful because there were no specific, articulable facts supporting reasonable suspicion.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Was the initial traffic stop justified under the Fourth Amendment | Groves/Smith: no specific articulable facts; stop unlawful | State: stop justified as part of a second-tier Terry stop after Groves attempted to leave | Stop unlawful; evidence inadmissible |
| Did the stop convert into an unlawful stop that tainted the subsequent search | Consent to search arose from an unlawful stop | Consent independent of legality of initial stop | Evidence suppressed; unlawful stop tainted the search |
Key Cases Cited
- Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (U.S. 1968) (establishes the tiers of police-citizen encounters and need for reasonable suspicion)
- Black v. State, 281 Ga.App. 40 (Ga.App. 2006) (first-tier encounter; driving questions do not constitute a stop)
- O'Neal v. State, 273 Ga.App. 688 (Ga.App. 2005) (second-tier stop when officer orders driver to stop; blue lights)
- Peters v. State, 242 Ga.App. 816 (Ga.App. 2000) (second-tier stop when officer commands stop; articulable suspicion required)
- Pritchard v. State, 300 Ga.App. 14 (Ga.App. 2009) (parking in front of a house did not justify second-tier stop; need articulable suspicion)
- Black v. State (Ga.App. 2006), 281 Ga.App. 40 (Ga.App. 2006) (clarifies consensual vs. investigatory encounters and necessity of suspicion)