Opinion ID: 2977384
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: analysis

Text: “When reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we review the district court’s findings of fact for clear error and its conclusions of law de novo.” United States v. Simpson, 520 F.3d 531, 534 (6th Cir. 2008) (internal quotation marks omitted). “In doing so, we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the United States.” United States v. Freeman, 209 F.3d 464, 466 (6th Cir. 2000).
“Stopping a vehicle and detaining its occupants amounts to a seizure under the Fourth Amendment.” Id. (citing Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 653 (1979)). Whether the seizure is reasonable is determined by considering first “‘whether the officer’s action was justified at its inception,’ and second ‘whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place.’” Id. (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 19-20 (1968)). Neither party disputes that if either the initial traffic stop or the scope and duration of the stop was unlawful, the evidence and statements obtained from that illegality must be excluded as “fruit of poisonous tree.” Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. Nos. 07-5971/5972 United States v. Gross et al. Page 7 471, 488 (1963). Because we conclude that the initial stop was not lawful, we need not consider the legality of the scope and duration of the stop. The district court erred in finding that Deputy Ritter had probable cause to stop the vehicle, because, viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the government, Deputy Ritter could not have reasonably believed that the defendants’ conduct amounted to a violation of Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-123. Regardless of the subjective motivations of the officer, “so long as the officer has probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred or was occurring, the resulting stop is not unlawful.” Freeman, 209 F.3d at 466 (quoting United States v. Ferguson, 8 F.3d 385, 391 (6th Cir. 1993) (en banc), cert. denied, 1 513 U.S. 828 (1994)); see also Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 813 (1996). “The requirements of probable cause are satisfied where the facts and circumstances within their (the officers’) knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information (are) sufficient in themselves to warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that an offense has been or is being committed.” United States v. Davis, 430 F.3d 345, 352 (6th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation marks omitted). We conclude that Deputy Ritter did not have probable cause to believe that a violation of Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-123 occurred under the circumstances described in his testimony. What Deputy Ritter described is essentially a slow lane change: the vehicle straddled two lanes for a few seconds while changing from one lane to the other, in an area where the highway began a steep incline and changed from two to three lanes. Without some further allegation of erratic or improper driving, this simply is not within the scope of the statute. Section 55-8-123 does not require vehicles strictly to maintain the lane at all times, but requires that “[a] vehicle shall be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane.” Both this court and the Tennessee courts have found no violation of § 55-8-123, and therefore no probable cause, when a vehicle has veered from its lane but is not otherwise driving erratically. See, e.g., Freeman, 209 F.3d at 466 1 We have previously noted that “[t]here is a degree of confusion in this circuit over the legal standard governing traffic stops.” United States v. Sanford, 476 F.3d 391, 394 (6th Cir. 2007); see also Simpson, 520 F.3d at 538-41 (noting that Freeman requires probable cause and controls with respect to violations that are not ongoing). We need not address this question, however, because both parties use the probable-cause standard, and neither argues that a lower standard, such as reasonable suspicion, should apply. Nos. 07-5971/5972 United States v. Gross et al. Page 8 (finding no violation of § 55-8-123 and no probable cause when the officer observed “one isolated incident of a large motor home partially weaving into the emergency lane for a few feet and an instant in time”); State v. Binette, 33 S.W.3d 215, 220 (Tenn. 2000) (concluding that a vehicle that had crossed the yellow line twice and made a hard swerve did not violate § 55-8-123 and holding that an officer does not have “reasonable suspicion to stop a driver whose driving it found not to be erratic or in any way improper”); see also State v. Carl Martin, No. W2002-00066-CCA-R3-CD, 2003 WL 57311, at  (Tenn. Crim. App. Jan. 2, 2003); State v. Ann Martin, No. E1999-01361CCA-R3-CD, 2000 WL 1273889, at  (Tenn. Crim. App. Sept. 8, 2000). But see State v. Richie, No. E2005-02596-CCA-R3-CD, 2007 WL 10449, at  (Tenn. Crim. App. Jan. 3, 2007). Deputy Ritter testified that the vehicle straddled the center lane for at least one hundred yards while changing lanes, which, when traveling at sixty-five miles an hour, amounts to just over three seconds. The truck in Exhibit 6, which, according to Deputy Ritter’s testimony, did essentially what the defendants’ vehicle did, seems to have straddled the lane for approximately four to five seconds while changing lanes. Gross was changing lanes, while rounding a curve and going up a mountain where the highway increases from two to three lanes, and he was not otherwise driving erratically or improperly. It clearly is not practicable to change lanes without straddling the lanes for some amount of time. Particularly given the Tennessee courts’ lenient interpretation of § 55-8-123 where a driver is not driving erratically, we simply cannot conclude that the slow lane change observed by Deputy Ritter amounted to a violation of the statute. We further cannot conclude that the driving witnessed by Deputy Ritter gave him probable cause to believe that a violation occurred. The government urges that probable cause existed because Deputy Ritter believed that Gross’s driving constituted a traffic violation. Probable cause, however, requires that the officer’s belief be reasonable. See Davis, 430 F.3d at 352. Here, it was not objectively reasonable for Deputy Ritter to believe that a driver violated § 55-8-123 by slowly changing lanes under the Nos. 07-5971/5972 United States v. Gross et al. Page 9 circumstances described in his testimony.2 Because Deputy Ritter did not have probable cause to believe that he witnessed a violation of Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-8-123, the stop of the defendants was unlawful at its inception. We therefore need not consider whether the stop was unreasonably prolonged beyond its purpose.