Bannister v. State, 03S04-0904-CR-166
04-17-09, Ind.
Attorney: Joseph Leon Payne
Holding: Warrantless stop of Defendant’s pickup truck did not violate Fourth Amendment, where license plate check revealed that truck owner’s driving privileges were suspended for life, and officer could see the driver and determine that the driver matched the physical description of the owner. Defendant argued that officer was unable to identify any characteristics of the driver and that it was not reasonable for a police officer to believe that a vehicle is being driven by a suspended driver just because the registered owner may have the vehicle registered in his name. See Holly v. State, 888 N.E.2d 338 (Ind.Ct.App. 2008), trans. granted, and Armsfield v. State, 894 N.E.2d 195 (Ind.Ct.App. 2008), trans. granted. In this case, officer received information that described Defendant as 5 foot 7, 165 pounds with brown hair. Officer recalled that the person he saw driving pickup truck through intersection was a male with brown hair. On cross-examination, counsel extracted a pretty wide range about the driver’s possible height. Still, officer testified he saw the driver at a lighted intersection in clear weather. He judged that the driver “closely matched the description of [Defendant].” Under this evidence, officer had reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop to determine whether it was Defendant driving the vehicle. Held, transfer granted, memorandum Court of Appeals’ opinion vacated, judgment affirmed.
