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Woodward v. State

Since the officers would have discovered the cocaine during a valid search incident to Woodward's arrest for driving without a license, any error in their asking him how much dope he had in his car was harmless.

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After a bench trial, William Woodward was convicted of possession of cocaine, driving without insurance, and driving while his license was revoked. He appeals, challenging the denial of his motion to suppress.

Upon review of the denial of a motion to suppress, the appellate court construes the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court’s judgment, and its findings of fact based on conflicting evidence must be accepted unless clearly erroneous.1 So construed, the evidence shows that police officers were observing and following Woodward’s truck when he made “an abrupt right turn into a driveway” without signaling. Officers then stopped Woodward and when asked for his driver’s license and proof of insurance, Woodward replied he had neither. One of the officers then asked Woodward how much “dope” he had in the vehicle, to which Woodward replied “a little bit.” Woodward indicated where the drugs were in the vehicle, and officers recovered what was later tested to be cocaine. The trial court denied the motion to suppress, finding that the stop of Woodward’s vehicle was not pretextual in that he committed the traffic offense of failing to use a turn signal in violation of OCGA § 40-6-123.

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