Utah Search and Seizure
Can I beat a DUI charge or
drug possession charge on a "pretext stop" in Utah?
Short
history lesson here: Up until the 1990's, Utah
DUI
defense
and
drug
crimes attorneys could get a lot of mileage out of
the idea of a "pretext
stop." The idea was that if a police officer used a very
minor
traffic violation as a "pretext" to pull a driver over, but the
officer's real purpose was to investigate some other crime, then a
motion
to suppress could be filed to keep out any evidence that the
officer had found as a result of this "pretext stop." It was
a
good idea, and it worked well . . . for a while.

The "pretext
stop" analysis formerly engaged in by Utah courts and some federal
courts looked at whether a reasonable Utah police officer would have
pulled a driver over for the kind of traffic violation involved. For
example, there are very few officers who ordinarily pull
drivers over for going one mph over the speed limit. But if
an
officer saw a vehicle and driver that matched a "profile" of a typical
drug dealer, or saw a vehicle just pulling out from a bar's parking
lot, then the officer might be inclined to go out of his way to
pull the driver over for going just one mph too fast. On the
theory that the stop was based on an improper police motive to get into
the car to search for drugs, and the traffic violation was used merely
as a "pretext" for allowing the officer to search the car, the court
could suppress any evidence found during the resulting search.
Once the evidence was suppressed, the entire case would
usually be dismissed.
But that was then, and this is now. The "pretext stop"
doctrine was overturned in Utah by the Utah Supreme Court's
decision in
State
v. Lopez, 873 P.2d 1127 (Utah 1994). Two years
later, the United States Supreme Court also rejected the pretext-stop
doctrine in
Whren
v. United States, 517 U.S 806, 135 L.Ed.2d 89, 116 S.Ct.
1769 (1996). Materials are still available on the internet
that discuss how to use a pretext stop to win a criminal case.
These materials typically are from outdated sources, or have
been posted by individuals who have not kept up with changes in the law.
Under current caselaw, a police officer may be constitutionally
justified in stopping a vehicle even for minor violations of the
traffic code. But there the
Fourth
Amendment still places limits on how far an officer may
extend the scope of the stop. If a driver is stopped for a
minor traffic violation, an officer does not have automatic grounds for
searching the vehicle or even for questioning the driver about other
possible violations or crimes.
Finding the Best Attorney for Your Case
There is no single "best" attorney in Utah. But finding the attorney who is the best match for your case is important.
If you have been charged with a crime in Utah, it is important to speak
to an experienced
Utah criminal
defense attorney regarding your rights. Stephen
Howard has defended literally thousands of serious felony and
misdemeanor crimes during his career. His
track
record speaks for
itself.
Contact us today to
schedule an initial consultation with
Salt
Lake City defense attorney Stephen Howard.