Virginia vs Moore
Virginia vs. Moore
Crystal Simpkins, James Rodocker, Richard Smith, Sharmaine Currie, Teneshia Murray,
Professor Jim Daly
CJA/304
August 10, 2015
February 20, 2003 Portsmouth, Virginia two detectives responded to a radio call of a suspended driver. (No clear location of the traffic stop) after the subject was arrested he was moved to the second location. Second location was the hotel parking lot of Moore where the officers decided to search him finding the 16grams of crack cocaine in his jacket pocket, and $516 in his pants pocket. David Lee Moore was convicted of possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute in the Circuit Court of the City of Portsmouth. Moore was originally being stopped for operating a vehicle while having a suspended driver’s license. This would have only been a Class 1 misdemeanor. While being searched the officers found sixteen grams of crack cocaine and five hundred and sixteen dollars.
The Circuit Court of Portsmouth denied the motion to suppress the drug evidence and found Moore guilty. He was given a five year prison sentence. This conviction was overturned by the Virginia Court of Appeals which invoked Virginia’s statutory arrest rules. The search was unconstitutional because the Code made clear that, absent additional facts, the detectives were required to issue appellant summons for the misdemeanor offense of driving on a suspended license.
An en banc decision reinstated Moore’s conviction. This group of judges held that although his arrest violated Virginia’s arrest statutes, exclusion of evidence was not the remedy because the Fourth Amendment’s requirement for probable cause was satisfied. Moore appealed to Virginia’s Supreme Court after this. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction on the grounds of the arrest was unlawful and there was no right to search Moore. There were several other cases that were used and helped Moore. Two of them that the court used were Knowles v. Iowa and United States
Crystal Simpkins, James Rodocker, Richard Smith, Sharmaine Currie, Teneshia Murray,
Professor Jim Daly
CJA/304
August 10, 2015
February 20, 2003 Portsmouth, Virginia two detectives responded to a radio call of a suspended driver. (No clear location of the traffic stop) after the subject was arrested he was moved to the second location. Second location was the hotel parking lot of Moore where the officers decided to search him finding the 16grams of crack cocaine in his jacket pocket, and $516 in his pants pocket. David Lee Moore was convicted of possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute in the Circuit Court of the City of Portsmouth. Moore was originally being stopped for operating a vehicle while having a suspended driver’s license. This would have only been a Class 1 misdemeanor. While being searched the officers found sixteen grams of crack cocaine and five hundred and sixteen dollars.
The Circuit Court of Portsmouth denied the motion to suppress the drug evidence and found Moore guilty. He was given a five year prison sentence. This conviction was overturned by the Virginia Court of Appeals which invoked Virginia’s statutory arrest rules. The search was unconstitutional because the Code made clear that, absent additional facts, the detectives were required to issue appellant summons for the misdemeanor offense of driving on a suspended license.
An en banc decision reinstated Moore’s conviction. This group of judges held that although his arrest violated Virginia’s arrest statutes, exclusion of evidence was not the remedy because the Fourth Amendment’s requirement for probable cause was satisfied. Moore appealed to Virginia’s Supreme Court after this. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction on the grounds of the arrest was unlawful and there was no right to search Moore. There were several other cases that were used and helped Moore. Two of them that the court used were Knowles v. Iowa and United States
References: Harrell, H. L. (2008, October). Victory from the jaws of defeat, from the jaws of victory, from the jaws of defeat. Virginia Police Legal Bulletin, 3(2). Retrieved from http://www.vachiefs.org/vapleac/vplb/3-2/Oct08_harrell_print.htm Supreme Court Decides Incident to Arrest –Vehicle Case Held. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.llrmi.com/articles/legal_update/Virgina-v-Moore-Decision.shtml