Tim Powers

Criminal Defense Attorney

Denton, Texas

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police can stop and search a driver based solely on an anonymous 911 tip.

The 5-4 decision split the court’s two most conservative justices, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing for the majority and Justice Antonin Scalia penning the dissent.

In August 2008, an anonymous 911 caller in California phoned in a report that a pickup truck had run her off the road. The caller gave the location of the incident, plus the make and model of the truck and the license plate number.

Police subsequently pulled over a truck matching that description and smelled marijuana as they were walking toward the vehicle. Officers eventually found 30 pounds of marijuana in the truck and arrested the driver, Jose Prado Navarette.

Navarette challenged the search and arrest as unconstitutional, arguing that officers did not have reasonable suspicion to pull him over in the first place because police knew nothing about the identity or reliability of the tipster.

The five-justice court majority disagreed, and in so doing gave police new authority to rely on anonymous tipsters.

The court has long held that officers can make stops based on anonymous tips, but the information in those tips must provide enough detail to give rise to a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. In this case, Thomas, the author of the majority opinion, concluded that because the 911 tipster said she had been forced off the road, she was an eyewitness, and that police could infer that there was reason to believe the truck driver was drunk.

Relying on 911 tipsters is reasonable, he said, because “a 911 call has some features that allow for identifying and tracking callers,” and the calls can be recorded.

In a scathing dissent, fellow conservative Scalia called the Thomas opinion a “freedom-destroying cocktail” that would encourage “malevolent” tipsters to make false reports. It matters not whether the caller gave details about her alleged accident. The issue, said Scalia, is “whether what she claimed to know was true.”

As to the inference that the truck’s driver was drunk, Scalia pointed out that the police officers here followed the pickup for over five minutes — and “five minutes is a long time” — without any indication of drunken driving or even bad driving.

“After today’s opinion,” said Scalia, “all of us on the road, and not just drug dealers, are at risk … ”

Joining Scalia in dissent were three of the court’s more liberal members: Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Joining Thomas in the majority were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito and Stephen Breyer, who defected from the court’s liberal bloc to provide the fifth and decisive vote.

Tim Powers, Denton criminal defense attorney and legal analyst for several local and nation radio shows including Fox Radio News and The Russ Martin Show hear weekdays on KEGL, said “this ruling further erodes almost into obsurity the theory or reasonable suspicion under the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution. A feat no one thought was remotely possible.” Powers explained:

“A driver somehow irritates someone behind him on the road, he calls 911 and gives a license tag number and complains the driver is driving erratically. A police officer sees the truck, witnesses NO bad driving and assumes the driver is DWI. Let’s say the driver is given field tests. He will likely fail. The tests are set up to make the average person fail. Then he takes a breath test. He blows a 0.0 (no alcohol in his system). The cop gets a warrant for blood. He comes back clean. The DA will assume he was intoxicated on a drug for which the lab did not test. The Supreme Court has drawn us one step closer to the personal rights afforded to the citizens of North Korea.” Powers continued…”Justice Scalia couldn’t have said it better. the ruling destroys our rights.”

If you are seeking aggressive criminal representation by an experienced criminal defense attorney for your Denton County criminal case or arrest in Denton County, contact the offices of Tim Powers today. There is no charge or obligation for the initial consultation. 940.580.2899 940.483.8000

*Tim Powers is an attorney licensed to practice law by the Supreme Court of Texas. Nothing in this article is intended to be legal advice. For legal advice about any specific legal question you should directly consult an attorney. Criminal Defense Lawyers with Unparalleled Passion for Success Providing Quality Representation for your Denton, Lewisville, Flower Mound, Carrollton, Corinth, Highland Village Dallas, Plano, McKinney, Denton County, Tarrant County, Collin County, or Dallas County criminal case