Search and Seizure – Drug Prosecution
A New Jersey appellate court reversed a lower court’s denial of a defendant’s suppression motion on April 16, 2007 in the case entitled State v. Small (A-1283-05T4). The case arose out of a motor vehicle stop that took place on October 16, 2002 in Wall Township. The defendant was stopped for failing to keep right. During the stop the police officer asked the defendant to exit his car and frisked him. During the frisk the officer found a small plastic BB in the defendant’s pocket. Finding the BB provided the officer with reason to request permission from the defendant to search the vehicle for a weapon. The defendant consented to the officer’s search of the vehicle. The Court agreed that the BB was “significant enough to establish a reasonable and articulable suspicion to request defendant’s consent to search the vehicle for a weapon.”
While searching the vehicle for a weapon, the officer found a Newport cigarette box in the arm rest. The cigarette box rattled. The officer opened the cigarette box and found four rocks of crack cocaine. No weapons were found in the vehicle. During the lower court’s suppression hearing, the officer acknowledged under oath that the cigarette box was not large enough to hold “some sort of gun.” The appellate court ruled that the defendant’s motion to suppress the four rocks of crack cocaine that were found in the cigarette box should have been granted by the lower, trial court. The court reasoned that the officer’s search of the car exceeded the scope of the consent. The officer’s search was for a weapon, and there is no way the type of weapon that would hold a BB – a gun – could have been hidden in a cigarette box. The court ruled that the officer had no right to search the cigarette box because there could be no gun in a cigarette box. The contents of the cigarette box therefore were not admissible.
If you or a loved one have been charged with a drug charge in the state of New Jersey, please contact an attorney at the law firm of Lependorf & Silverstein, P.C. The attorneys at Lependorf & Silverstein, P.C. will fight for your constitutional rights. Please call the firm of Lependorf & Silverstein, P.C. for a free telephone consultation today.
