TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Dec 15, 2014

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 today that police did not violate the constitutional rights of Nicholas Heien when they stopped his a car for a broken taillight and subsequently found a plastic bag containing cocaine. Heien was convicted of cocaine trafficking and on appeal argued that police had no legal right to stop him in the first place, because it is not an offense in North Carolina to have a single broken taillight. Because the traffic stop was illegal, he argued, the evidence from the search should not have been allowed at trial. The justices, however, found that the officer’s mistake was reasonable and therefore did not violate the constitution. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a lone dissent, warned that the decision could exacerbate public suspicion of police. NPR has more on the decision.