Dui Lawyers

In The State of Florida v. Coley the 4th DCA upheld the ruling by the trial court that the stop at issue in this case wasn't predicated on a mistake of fact or a mistake of law.

The appellate court made the following findings of fact & conclusions of law. A police officer stopped defendant's vehicle predicated on illegal window tint & placed defendant under arrest for possession of cocaine & marijuana. The circuit court granted defendant's motion to suppress, but the appellate court overturned, stating that the circuit court erred when it treated the officer's view of the facts as a mistake of law since he knew the legal tint threshold. Accordingly, the issue addressed by the appellate court was whether the police officer's view of the factual scenario was sufficient to find that the officer had probable cause to believe that the window tint was illegal when defendant was stopped. The prosecution contended that the traffic stop was legal as the officer could not see the driver of the vehicle in the middle of the day since the window tint was too dark. The Fourth District Court of Appeal agreed, stating that the officer's belief that the window tint is so dark as to hide the occupant from the officer's view is against the law is not a mistake of law; but rather, the police officer's belief only relates to the facts the officer used to conclude that he was justified in conducting a traffic stop. As the tint on the defendant's window actually was below the statutory minimum , as the police officer suspected, there was no mistake of fact.

For additional information concerning Fort Lauderdale Criminal Defense Attorney or DUI Lawyer please contact us at: The Law Offices of Michael A. Dye, PA 1 E Broward Blvd # 700

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301