State v. Glover, 116446

On April 28, 2016, Douglas County Deputy Mark Mehrer observed a 1995 Chevrolet pickup and ran its plate, which showed the vehicle was registered to Charles Glover and Glover's Kansas driver's license was revoked.
Mehrer did not observe any traffic violations or visually confirm the driver’s identity before initiating a stop solely based on the registration/license information.
Mehrer identified Glover as the driver after stopping the vehicle; Glover was charged with driving as a habitual violator under K.S.A. 2016 Supp. 8-287.
Glover moved to suppress evidence, arguing knowledge only of owner’s suspended license, without more, does not give reasonable suspicion that the owner is the driver.
The district court granted suppression; the State appealed interlocutorily, arguing it was reasonable to infer the registered owner was the driver where there was no contrary information.

Issue	Glover's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Whether an officer has reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle to investigate an unlicensed driver when the officer knows the registered owner’s license is suspended but has no direct evidence who is driving	Knowledge that the registered owner’s license is suspended, alone, is insufficient to reasonably infer the owner is driving; the stop was unlawful	An officer may reasonably infer the owner is the driver absent information to the contrary, so the officer had reasonable suspicion to stop	The court held officer had reasonable suspicion here: knowing owner had suspended license and lacking any contrary evidence justified a stop

State v. Hamic, 35 Kan. App. 2d 202 (Kan. Ct. App. 2006) (officer's personal knowledge of prior instances supported inference owner was principal operator)
Armfield v. State, 918 N.E.2d 316 (Ind. 2009) (officer has reasonable suspicion when owner’s license suspended and officer knows no evidence owner is not driver)
State v. Vance, 790 N.W.2d 775 (Iowa 2010) (same rule: suspension + no contrary evidence supports investigatory stop)
State v. Tozier, 905 A.2d 836 (Me. 2006) (reasonable to suspect owner is driving absent circumstances showing otherwise)
State v. Pike, 551 N.W.2d 919 (Minn. 1996) (owner’s revoked license can form basis for reasonable suspicion)
State v. Neil, 207 P.3d 296 (Mont. 2009) (officer may infer driver is registered owner unless facts make that inference unreasonable)
State v. Richter, 765 A.2d 687 (N.H. 2000) (inferring driver is owner gave rise to reasonable suspicion)
State v. Edmonds, 58 A.3d 961 (Vt. 2012) (knowledge of owner’s suspension and reasonable inference owner is driver supported stop)