Ex Parte Aaron
Ex Parte Aaron
Opinion of the Court
Catherine Aaron petitioned for a writ of certiorari to review the Court of Criminal Appeals' unpublished memorandum affirming the trial court's judgment convicting her, pursuant to a plea agreement, of the unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance in the second degree, a violation of §
This is a companion case to Ex parte Shaver,
Aaron moved to suppress the evidence of the pseudoephedrine seized from the vehicle and to suppress a statement she made to the arresting officer. Following a hearing, the trial court denied Aaron's motions to suppress.2 Like Shaver, before pleading guilty Aaron had reserved the right to appeal the issue of the propriety of the trial court's denial of her motions to suppress.3
"[A] tip from an anonymous informant could provide reasonable suspicion for an investigatory stop under Terry v. Ohio,
In Ex parte Shaver, a majority of this Court held:
"[T]he scant evidence provided by [the deputy sheriff] concerning the nature of the Wal-Mart telephone call provides insufficient indicia of reliability to establish the requisite `reasonable suspicion' required under Terry [v. Ohio,
392 U.S. 1 ,88 S.Ct. 1868 ,20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)] for an investigative stop. As explained, no evidence was presented to indicate that any police work preceding the stop in any way corroborated the telephone tip so as to cumulatively provide `reasonable suspicion,' as discussed in State v. White [,854 So.2d 636 (Ala.Crim.App. 2003)]. In the absence of the constitutionally required reasonable suspicion to support the initial stop, none of the evidence gained as a result of that stop or the ensuing detention is properly admissible. Accordingly, the trial court erred when it denied Shaver's motion to suppress the evidence, and the Court of Criminal Appeals erred in affirming the trial court's judgment."
By virtue of the fact that Aaron was a passenger in Shaver's vehicle, the same evidence that failed to provide sufficient indicia of reliability required to establish reasonable suspicion for an investigatory *Page 1112 stop in Ex parte Shaver also provides insufficient indicia of reliability required to establish reasonable suspicion with respect to Aaron. Accordingly, Aaron's motions to suppress the evidence of the pills containing pseudoephedrine and the subsequent statement she made to police after the investigatory stop should have been granted.4 Based on the authority ofEx parte Shaver, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals and remand the cause for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
NABERS, C.J., and SEE, LYONS, HARWOOD, WOODALL, SMITH, and PARKER, JJ., concur.
STUART, J., dissents.
Dissenting Opinion
I dissented in Ex parte Shaver,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ex Parte Catherine Aaron. (In Re Catherine Janella Aaron v. State of Alabama).
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published