SCOTUS 2014 Term opens with a question of . . . . brake lights.

The United States Supreme Court will open its new term with a case that turns on whether a North Carolina police officer's erroneous application of the "defective brake light" statute could be the basis of a lawful arrest. In Heien v. North Carolina the defendant was driving a vehicle with only one operational brake light. Because the other brake light was not working, the police stopped the defendant's vehicle. During the course of the stop the police asked and obtained consent to search the vehicle, resulting in the discovery of cocaine. Defendant was charged with drug trafficking, and he moved to suppress the fruits of the search, claiming that the original stop had been unlawful. An intermediate appellate court in North Carolina accepted the argument, concluding that the applicable statute only required one working brake light, which defendant's vehicle had. Because there was no violation, the court reasoned, the stop itself was unlawful and all of its fruits were inadmissible. The North Carolina Supreme Court reversed holding that, notwithstanding the police officer's possible misapplication of the brake light statute, the stop itself was objectively reasonable based on the officer's reasonable understanding of the statute. The U.S. Supreme Court granted cert. and will hear arguments in the case on Monday October 6. Given the trend in recent Fourth Amendment Exclusionary Rule cases, this one seems likely to go the government's way.