State v. Lanes

SMITH, Presiding Judge.

The State appeals the grant of Jamal Lanes’s motion to suppress evidence obtained in a search of his vehicle and person. The trial court correctly found that the officer lacked a reasonable, articulable suspicion to ask Lanes to get out of his car before asking for permission to search, and we therefore affirm.

We must follow three principles when reviewing a trial court’s order concerning a motion to suppress evidence:

First, the judge sits as the trier of facts. The trial judge hears the evidence, and his findings based upon conflicting evidence are analogous to the…