United States v. Ruel Antonio Wallace

SILVERMAN, Circuit Judge:

Mistakenly believing that any tinting of a vehicle’s front windows was illegal, a police officer conducted a traffic stop of the defendant’s car. The tinting toas illegal but for a different reason — because it was over twice as dark as the law allows. Although the officer misunderstood the tinting law, he was correct that the tinting he saw was illegal, and accordingly, had probable cause to stop the car. Since the stop was lawful, the results of the subsequent consent search should not have been suppressed. We reverse.

I

In April of 1999, agents of the Drug…