Sometimes when the prosecution is hard it makes the case easy

Last week I was representing a client already on probation for driving while suspended. While on probation he was again charged for driving while revoked. My client was a decent generally law-abiding citizen. It seemed like the prosecution was ready. I tried to negotiate with the prosecution to reduce the one year in jail, 12 points on his license offense down to a 60 day in jail three points on his license offense. Not that my client would necessarily go to jail for 60 days but that was the possibility. And 60 days is a lot better than one year. The prosecution stuck to their guns and basically ridiculed my attempts at settling the case. The battle lines were drawn and the case was called for trial.

A little background: My client advised that he had left a bar at approximately 11 p.m. and was sober and before he got into his car he saw the police officer in the parking lot waiting for drunks to come out to be stopped. My client was fully aware of the officer and drove very carefully. He observed a stop sign exiting the parking lot and began down the road and noticed that the officer was after him. The officer put on her takedown lights and my client pulled into the 7-11. At that point it was determined that his license was revoked. The officer told him that she had stopped him for running the stop sign.

The testimony of the officers surprised me. The officer testified that it was 11 a.m. and she had run my client' s tag and determined that the owner of the vehicle was suspended. She testified that the owner was a white male who was 5'8" tall and 190 pounds. This matched the description given from her police car computer. Obviously the testimony was quite different from my client. On cross examination she fell apart establishing his height and his weight (he was sitting in a car and all she could see were his shoulders and above-rather difficult to figure out somebody's height and weight). My client admitted police officer that he was suspended.

During the suppression hearing (we challenged the constitutionality of the stop) my client testified that his wife owned the car and consequently the description should have come back for a woman. Also he testified that he was stopped for running a stop sign. He told the judge that he did not run the stop sign.

The judge looked at the facts. The officer was very shaky in her testimony. She did not have her notes. She had had hundreds of stops of other motorists since the original stop. She had made hundreds of arrests since this original arrest. She was wrong as to the time of the arrest. She was wrong as to the vehicle owner. She was wrong as to the reason for the stop. My client was properly prepared and had a very strong memory of the events. His testimony was solid and credible.

The judge granted our motion to suppress the evidence and my client was acquitted. No jail, no probation, no conviction, no points, no fine. Often when the prosecution makes the offer too difficult, it makes the case that much easier to try.