California v. Lopez
Annotate this CaseThe State appealed a trial court's suppression order and subsequent dismissal of its prosecution of defendant Maria Elena Lopez on drug possession charges. Defendant was outside her car when a police officer, who watched her park the car, asked whether she had a driver’s license; when defendant said she did not, the officer asked whether she had any identification and defendant said she thought it was in the car; the officer then placed her in handcuffs and another officer retrieved a purse from the car; the subsequent search of the purse for identification uncovered a small amount of methamphetamine. The Attorney General argued the methamphetamine was found during a lawful search for identification and the trial court erroneously ruled the United States Supreme Court’s decision in "Arizona v. Gant," 556 U.S. 332 (2009) compelled suppression of the evidence. Defendant argued the officer unlawfully detained her and the subsequent search of her purse for identification was nevertheless unlawful on these facts. After review, the Court of Appeals agreed with the Attorney General’s assessment of the issue and reversed the trial court’s orders granting the suppression motion and dismissing the case against defendant.
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