Court Opinion

ID: 9754122
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:44:45.240378+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:49.065953
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by BATTAGLIA, Judge, which HARRELL and CATHELL, Judges, join.
I respectfully dissent.
While I agree with the majority that reasonable articulable suspicion would support a traffic stop as well as a Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996) pretextual stop,1 I disagree that the traffic stop at issue was not supported by a reasonable articulable suspicion.
The evidence adduced at the suppression hearing was that after midnight on May 8, 2006, Deputy Wood, while patrolling Interstate 95 in Harford County, observed Williams’ vehicle. Deputy Wood followed Williams’ car as Williams proceeded to exit 1-95 onto the Route 152 ramp. At the end of the exit ramp, Deputy Wood stopped his police car “10 or 12 feet” behind Williams’ car; Deputy Wood described the “well lit” intersection as “almost like daytime” because of the illumination provided by the street lamps. At that point, Deputy Wood noticed that the back window of Williams’ car appeared dark, and that he could not see through the rear window into the car:
[STATE]: Did you notice anything about the windows of the vehicle at that time?
[DEPUTY WOOD]: At that time I noticed the back window
of the vehicle appeared to be a little darker than normal.
[STATE]: Why did that draw your attention?
[DEPUTY WOOD]: Just based on my training and experience with the Sheriffs Office and traffic stops I’ve made, I *694noticed that the vehicle appeared to have tint that wasn’t— it appeared to be after-market.
[STATE]: Usually when you observe the vehicle from the rear, in terms of whether you can see through the window, what’s been your experience as far as what you can see?
[DEPUTY WOOD]: Due to the fact that that intersection is very well lit, there’s multiple street lamps in that area, just due to my training, knowledge, and experience, I’ve been able to see into the vehicle. At that point in time, I could not.
[STATE]: So normally, in a normal vehicle, you would be able to see through the rear window, is that what you’re saying?
[DEPUTY WOOD]: Yes.
[STATE]: So in this case, when you looked at the rear window, could you see through?
[DEPUTY WOOD]: No, I could not.
Deputy Wood also noticed that there were no stickers or labels on Williams’ rear window indicating that the window was compliant with Maryland law:2
[STATE]: Did you observe any kind of tags or inspection stickers on the window at that time?
[DEPUTY WOOD]: No, I could not.
[STATE]: When you say inspection stickers, are inspection stickers issued for window tinting?
[DEPUTY WOOD]: When a subject is issued a repair order for their window tint and they have it checked out by the State Police and the MVA, a sticker is usually placed on the window saying that, you know, the certification was done or the test was done.
*695[STATE]: So that normally happens after a repair order is issued?
[DEPUTY WOOD]: Yes.
[STATE]: But you didn’t see a sticker on the window at that time?
[DEPUTY WOOD]: No, I did not.
Deputy Wood then stopped Williams’ car to issue an equipment repair order for the window tinting and subsequently seized controlled dangerous substances. Based upon the suppression hearing testimony, the circuit court granted Williams’ motion to suppress. The majority states because Deputy Wood testified that the window was darker than normal, rather than darker than that allowed by law, that the Deputy’s testimony did not establish reasonable articulable suspicion.
Other courts faced with the same testimony that a vehicle’s window tinting was dark and the officer could not see into the vehicle found grounds for a stop sufficient to satisfy even a higher standard, that of probable cause. In United States v. Wallace, 213 F.3d 1216, 1220 (9th Cir.2000), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded that an officer had probable cause to stop a car based upon his testimony that “[t]he window tinting on the front two windows, even during the daylight hours, was a heavy tint where the occupant inside was at a harder degree to look [sic] into the vehicle.” Although the officer misstated the applicable law regarding window tinting and failed to mention the 70 percent light transmission requirement of the California Vehicle Code,3 the Court ruled that the officer’s observations established that *696there existed “objective, probable cause to believe that [the] windows were, in fact, in violation.” Id. at 1220. See also United States v. Harrell, 268 F.3d 141, 149 (2d Cir.2001) (stating that police officer’s testimony that he could not see into the back of the car because its side and rear windows were tinted provided probable cause to support the traffic stop and noting that despite the officer’s testimony that he did not observe a traffic violation, the testimony would have led an objectively reasonable police officer to suspect that the windows were in violation of the law).
Further, in People v. Hanes, 60 Cal.App.4th Supp. 6, 72 Cal.Rptr.2d 212 (1997), the court concluded that an officer had reasonable articulable suspicion to stop a black car based upon his testimony that the front right window “was ‘so black that it kind of matched the color of the car’and that “he was unable to see the occupants of the vehicle.” Id. at 213-14.4 See also State v. Wyatt, 775 So.2d 481, 483 (La.Ct.App.2000) (noting that a traffic stop was justified based upon a police officer’s testimony that a car’s windows “were tinted so darkly that it was impossible to see inside the car”); State v. Taylor, 114 Ohio App.3d 416, 683 N.E.2d 367, 369-70 (1996) (concluding that officer’s testimony that window tinting appeared “exceptionally dark,” such that he could not see into the vehicle even with the police cruiser headlights shining directly on the vehicle, provided reasonable articulable suspicion to conduct the traffic stop).
Moreover, the majority fails to discuss the fact that Deputy Wood testified at the suppression hearing that he did not see any sticker or label on Williams’ rear window. The majority recognizes that “COMAR 11.14.02.14 requires, for post-manu*697facture tinting, that a label,\ x l-k inches, containing, among other things, the percentage of light transmittable, be permanently attached to the window, between the glass and the tinting film or laminate.” State v. Williams, 401 Md. 676, 692 n. 3, 934 A.2d 38, 48 n. 3 (2007). If an officer does not observe such a label or sticker, that alone could justify a traffic stop. State v. Williams, 401 Md. 676, 692 n. 3, 934 A.2d 38, 48 n. 3 (2007). The record in this case only supports the Deputy’s testimony that the label was not on the car at the time of the stop: Deputy Wood testified that he did not see any sticker on Williams’ rear window at the time of the stop; Williams took the stand and did not offer any testimony regarding the window sticker.
Deputy Wood had reasonable articulable suspicion to justify his traffic stop. By holding as it does, the majority impermissibly restricts the police’s ability to conduct a traffic stop based upon tinting violations. I disagree and would reverse the order of the Circuit Court for Harford County.
Judges HARRELL and CATHELL have authorized me to state that they join in the views expressed in this dissenting opinion.

. From the transcript, it appears that the suppression court did not conclude that the stop itself was pretextual, but found on the basis of public policy that the controlled dangerous substances seized should be suppressed because “any officer is going to say 'Looks a little dark to me,' and pull the vehicle over and search it.”

. See State v. Williams, 401 Md. 676, 692 n. 3, 934 A.2d 38, 48 n. 3 (2007) ("COMAR 11.14.02.14 requires, for post-manufacture tinting, that a label, 'k x l-k inches, containing, among other things, the percentage of light transmittable, be permanently attached to the window, between the glass and the tinting film or laminate.”).

. The California Vehicle Code Section 26708(d) (1998), provided in part:
[A] clear, colorless, and transparent material may be installed, affixed, or applied to the front side windows, located to the immediate left and right of the front seat if the following conditions are met
(2) The window glazing with the material applied meets all requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 205 (49 C.F.R. 571.205), including the specified minimum light transmittance of 70 percent and the abrasion resistance of AS-14 glazing, as specified in that federal standard.

. The California Vehicle Code Section 26708(a) (1996), stated in part that with certain exceptions, "[n]o person shall drive any motor vehicle with any object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied upon the windshield or side or rear windows” and that "[n]o person shall drive any motor vehicle with any object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied in or upon the vehicle which obstructs or reduces the driver's clear view through the windshield or side windows.”