People v. Nabong

California Supreme Court Jan 14, 2004 No. AD 4740Published

Before: Holm

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Holding. A traffic stop based solely on an officer's suspicion that a displayed temporary registration might be invalid, without any particularized evidence of illegality or an attempt to verify the registration status, constitutes an unlawful detention.

Issues

Does an officer have reasonable suspicion to conduct a traffic stop when a vehicle displays a temporary registration tag but has an expired license plate tab?
May an officer's general experience regarding the frequency of invalid temporary registrations justify a stop without further investigation?

Disposition. reversed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“Officer Begley's stop without checking with his dispatcher to confirm that appellant's registration was invalid constituted an unlawful detention.”

“He did not have any particularized belief that appellant's car was not validly registered; he only assumed based upon his experience that approximately 50 percent of the time the temporary registrations are not valid for the car on which they are placed.”

9 Cal.Rptr.3d 854 (2004) 115 Cal.App.4th Supp. 1 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

Jimmy L. NABONG, Defendant and Appellant.

No. AD 4740. Appellate Division, Superior Court, San Mateo County.

January 14, 2004. Sarah Boxer, Deputy District Attorney, Redwood City, CA, for plaintiff and respondent.

James P. McLaughlin, Attorney At Law, San Mateo, CA, for defendant and appellant.

OPINION

HOLM, P.J.

Appellant appeals the denial of his motion to suppress, contending that the trial judge erred in concluding that his detention was lawful.

On January 6, 2003 appellant was detained after being stopped by Officer Begley of the Daly City Police Department for a violation of Vehicle Code section 4000, subdivision (a) (driving with expired registration). Officer Begley noticed that appellant's car was traveling with an expired registration tag on his license plate.

Officer Begley also saw, however, a "number in the window which is temporary registration." The car did have a "temporary registration for the month of January in the rear window of the vehicle." He [855] said it "could come from anywhere and [in his mind] doesn't necessarily ... mean that it had valid registration." He testified that in his "training and experience numerous individuals have been known to place the temporary registration stickers on the wrong vehicle." In his limited experience (one and a half years as a police officer) he has stopped approximately 30 to 40 vehicles displaying apparent temporary registrations stickers, with about half of them turning out to be valid.

Other than the registration issue appellant did not do anything to justify any stop. As a result of the stop, stolen property was found in appellant's possession. In the trial court he moved to suppress the discovery of this evidence, based upon the claimed illegal detention. Respondent argued that the stop was valid because all that is needed is "reasonable suspicion" that a crime occurred. The trial court agreed and denied the motion to suppress. From that ruling, appellant appeals.

People v. Nabong

AI Brief

OPINION

HOLM, P.J.

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