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State v. Starks

Ample evidence supported the trial court's conclusion that the traffic stop involving the defendant's vehicle was pretextual.

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The State appeals the grant of Octavia Starks’s motion to suppress, in which Starks successfully argued that the police had no legal basis to conduct the traffic stop that led to the discovery of marijuana in his vehicle. Because the trial court did not clearly err in disbelieving the police testimony about the alleged reason for the stop, we affirm. When reviewing a trial court’s order on a motion to suppress, we apply the “any evidence” standard: “A trial court’s order on a motion to suppress will not be disturbed if there is any evidence to support it, and the trial court’s decision with regard to questions of fact and credibility must be accepted unless clearly erroneous. We construe all evidence presented in favor of the trial court’s findings and judgment.” Williams v. State .1 See Tate v. State .2 Starks’s own direct testimony, which contradicted the State’s evidence, as well as his intense and revealing cross-examination of the police officer’s testimony, remove this case from the category of undisputed facts to which we would apply a de novo standard of review. Cf. Vansant v. State 3 “where the evidence is uncontroverted and no question regarding the credibility of witnesses is presented, the trial court’s application of the law to undisputed facts is subject to de novo appellate review”.

Construed in favor of the trial court’s ruling, the evidence shows that one afternoon, two officers in a patrol car followed Starks in his car for some time as he proceeded towards his mother’s home. The officers observed no speeding, no weaving, no crossing lines, nor any other traffic infraction. Nevertheless, they activated their blue lights and pulled Starks over, asking him for his driver’s license and proof of insurance. While one officer returned to the patrol car to verify the insurance information, the other spoke with Starks through his driver’s side window. Starks asked the second officer why he was pulled over, to which he did not give Starks “any answer.”

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