State v. Gibbons

To me, the majority amply demonstrates how far afield we have gotten through the application of the erroneous analysis contained in Smith v. State,16 wherein this Court held that during a valid traffic stop, an officer cannot ask traffic law enforcement questions which are unrelated to the specific traffic violation that produced the stop. Now, under Smith — as it is being applied herein and elsewhere — perfectly reasonable general investigative questions that this Court has accepted and which have been routinely asked for years are cause for suppression as somehow violative of Terry v.…