State v. Stafford

JOHNSON, Presiding Judge.

The State appeals the trial court’s order granting Jeffery Stafford’s and Jeffrey Doyle’s motion to suppress evidence seized in a traffic stop during which an officer, after arresting Stafford for obstructing him, searched the car and found a substance which a field test showed to be cocaine. The State contends that the trial court erred in concluding that the stop, initiated by the officer on the grounds that Stafford’s car was improperly parked in the road in violation of the traffic laws, was invalid. For the reasons set forth below, we agree and reverse.

When we…