State of Maine v. Cayford

STATE OF MAINE UNIFIED CRIMINAL COURT
KENNEBEC ss. AUGUSTA
Docket No. CR-21-20148

STATE OF MAINE
ORDER ON MOTION TO SUPPRESS
V.

VANESSAI.CAYFORD

A testimonial hearing was held on Defendant's Motion to Suppress on
February 1, 2022. The State was represented by ADA Shannon Flaherty.
Defendant was represented by Attorney Kurt Peterson.

Defendant seeks to suppress all of the evidence resulting from the stop of
her vehicle. She alleges that the stop violated her Fourth Amendment
rights because it was conducted without the requisite "reasonable
articulable suspicion." While the Defendant concedes that RAS may be
found where an officer has an objectively reasonable belief that a
violation of a traffic law has occurred, the Defendant argues that here,
there was in fact no objectively reasonable basis to believe the Defendant
had violated a traffic law pursuant to the applicable statute at issue. The
Court agrees.

The Court heard testimony from Officer Paul Heath of the Waterville
Police Department, the officer who conducted the stop. He testified that
on March 18, 2021 he began to follow a Black Mustang vehicle at
approximately 8: 12 AM in Waterville. There was no credible dispute that
the sun had risen by this time and the stop occurred during daylight
hours. Officer Heath could not recall the specific weather conditions and
he could not recall how many feet he was located behind the Defendant's
vehicle when he made the decision to pull her over.

The stated reason for the stop was Officer Heath's observation that the
right-sided license plate light on the Mustang was not illuminated, and
therefore the vehicle had a defect and was in violation of 29-A M.R.S. §
1909. At hearing, Officer Heath confirmed that the left-sided license plate
light was in fact operable and working on the Mustang. The testimony
was not clear whether Officer Heath was, regardless of the lighting, able
to observe the rear registration plate of the Mustang for a distance of at
least fifty (50) feet. Following the traffic stop, the Defendant made various
inculpatory statements related to the status of her driver's license. The
Defendant has since been charged with Operating after Suspension.
The standard governing automotive stops is well-established: In order to
support a brief investigatory stop of a motor vehicle, a police officer must
have an objectively reasonable, articulable suspicion that either criminal
conduct, a civil violation, or a threat to public safety has occurred, is
occurring, or is about to occur. The officer's suspicion that any of these
circumstances exist must be objectively reasonable in the totality of the
circumstances." See, e.g., State v. Porter, 2008 ME 175, ,r 8, 960 A.2d
321,323 (citing State v. Sylvain, 2003 ME 5, ,r 11,814 A.2d 984,987).

The applicable statute at issue here, the alleged violation of which
constitutes the stated grounds for the stop, is 29-A M.R.S. § 1909. The
relevant portion of the statute states as follows:

"A vehicle must have a white light capable of illuminating the
rear registration plate so that the characters on the plate are
visible for a distance of at least 50 feet."

Applying both the standard from caselaw and plain language of the
statute to the facts at issue here, the Court finds that Officer Heath did
not have an objectively reasonable belief that the Mustang was in
violation of a traffic law. Put concisely, the evidence at hearing was clear
that the Mustang had "a white light capable" of illuminating the vehicle's
rear license plate, and as a result there could be no objectively
reasonable belief that it was in violation of a traffic law. The Court need
not reach the issue of whether Officer Heath could actually read the
license numbers.

Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED that Defendant's Motion to
Suppress is GRANTED. The so-called "fruits" of the stop, including any
inculpatory statements made by the Defendant are correspondingly
suppressed.

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DATED: ~/~-~_-_ _":)~ _(__ _ (__·-_ ( /J '
Sar-ab I. Gilbert
Unified Criminal Court Judge

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