Claris Law Legal Blogging Community

Editor: Tampa Criminal Attorneys
Profession: Tampa Defense Attorneys

Category: Criminal Law

State v. B; Judge: Tom Barber

Tampa Police Department recieved a citizen's complaint about several black males selling drugs in front of the vacant apartment located at 2908 E. 22nd Avenue in Tampa. The QUAD squad (division of the tampa police department responsible for deterring drug activity) of the Tampa Police Department received the information and responded to the call by conducting surveillance in front of the apartment complex in the hopes of arresting the dealers and anyone who purchased from them. Our client (defendant) drove to the apartment complex and brought cocaine from a dealer. The officer surveilling the complex believed he witnessed a hand to hand transaction between our client and the dealer, so he radioed other officers waiting outside the area, and our client was followed for about a mile and a half before being pulled over. Shortly before he was pulled over the officers saw the client briefly open his car door and then shut it while the car was moving. The officers stopped his vehicle, and cited him for opening a car door while it was moving. While they wrote the client a ticket the officers asked him for consent to search his vehicle (feeling he had just purchased cocaine from the dealer). He agreed, and the officers found a baggie of cocaine in the middle console. The client (defendant) was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine. The tampa police officers felt the stop of the client's vehicle was justifiable on two separate grounds. One, the officer conducting surveillance believed he saw a drug transaction take place between our cient and the dealer. Two, even if the officer did not witness a "drug transaction", the defendant committed a traffic infraction, which easily justifies the stop of his vehicle. The consent to search the vehicle was voluntary, so the only way to attack this case was by disputing the validity of the stop. We filed a motion to suppress the legality of the stop of our client's vehicle, and the State Attorney eventually agreed to DISMISS the possession of cocaine charge. Find out how the tampa criminal attorney successfully defeated the charge by challenging the legality of the client's stop.