State v. Carmichael
Defendant appealed his conviction on controlled dangerous substance charges. Officer conducted a motor vehicle stop solely on the basis of defendant's turn onto a highway ramp without signaling. Officer smelled marijuana when he approached the car. Other officers arrived, defendant was asked to exit the car and admitted he smoked marijuana on occasion. Officer searched the car and found four vials of suspected marijuana in the center console, arrested defendant and found a fifth vial of suspected marijuana in defendant's pocket. Defendant moved to suppress alleging there was no legitimate basis for the motor vehicle stop.
Motion judge found the parties failed to adequately address whether defendant's violation of N.J.S.A. 39:4-126 "may" have affected traffic, reopened testimony and questioned officer himself. Defense counsel objected to leading questions, officer testified to what could have happened rather than to what did happen and motion judge denied the motion.
Court found the record did not support a finding that defendant's failure to use his turn signal "may" have affected officer's movement. No other vehicles were apparently on the road when defendant made his turn, officer's vehicle was the only one that could have been affected and officer's testimony was predicated on speculative hypotheticals.
Source NJLJ June 17, 2021
