Our client was a passenger in an automobile pulled over for a broken taillight and cruising in the left lane. The officer believed that he had the requisite reasonable suspicion to pull the driver and passenger out of the car and request consent to search the vehicle; the fruits of which yielded one marijuana cigarette which our client then took the blame for. Throughout various hearings, we argued that the officer lacked the requisite reasonable suspicion to ask for a consent search because he only cited his observation of the driver’s bloodshot eyes, and did not denote whether there was any plain sight or plain smell observation that could lead to reasonable suspicion. As a result, the charge was downgraded to a municipal ordinance.
