A Miami appeals court recently ruled that a police officer acted legally in 2015 when he pulled over a motorist whose license plate frame partially covered the words “MyFlorida.com” and “Sunshine State” on his license plate, but not the plate’s tag numbers or decals. After pulling over the driver due to the partial obscuring of this seemingly unimportant portion of his license plate, the police officer determined the driver was driving on a suspended license and searched his car. Upon searching his car, the officer found drugs, which lead to the driver’s arrest for driving with a suspended license as well as for narcotics offenses simply due to the license plate frame on his car. This decision serves as an important reminder to Floridians to ensure that no portion of their license plates are obscured in any way lest they risk criminal charges on some unrelated grounds.
The Traffic Stop and the Appellate Court’s Decision
The driver in question’s license plate featured a frame that listed the Miami car dealership at which the driver had purchased the vehicle. The driver was pulled over not because he was speeding or committing any other moving violation, but due solely to the fact that his license plate frame partially obscured these portions of his license plate. His car was searched by the police officer who pulled him over, who found a bag of alprazolam pills in the car, a controlled substance. The driver was consequently charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell and drug trafficking in addition to driving with a suspended license. A lower court judge ruled that the traffic stop was illegal because she determined that the license plate frame in question did not violate Florida state law regarding the displaying of license plates by Florida drivers. However, prosecutors then appealed the lower court judge’s decision and the Miami appeals court agreed with the prosecution, saying the actual word “Florida” must be clear on a motorist’s license plate if he or she ventures out onto the road. The end result is that the driver is now facing drug and driving with a suspended license charges simply because of the frame his dealership put on the vehicle when he purchased it.
The Takeaway for Florida Drivers: Carefully Examine Your License Plate to Ensure No Part of It is Obscured, Lest You Risk Being Pulled Over
The import of this decision for Florida drivers is that every motorist in the Sunshine State must be careful to ensure that he or she has a license plate which is clearly visible to law enforcement and is compliant in all other respects with Section 316.065, Florida Statutes, Florida’s license plate display law. Covering up the letters or numbers on a license plate is grounds for a police officer to pull you over and potentially arrest you for an unrelated offense. For example, if a driver has a single drink and then is driving and his or her license plate is partly obscured, police have the ability under this recent appeals court decision to pull the driver over for the license plate violation. The traffic stop could then turn into an arrest for drunk driving if the officer claims to smell alcohol on the motorist’s breath and then makes the motorist perform a field sobriety test.
The problem with this decision for Florida drivers is that it provides officers an easy reason to stop vehicles even if you have not committed a moving or traffic violation. It can then serve as a gateway for an officer to attempt a search of your person or vehicle whereas the officer may not have otherwise had the opportunity to do. Therefore, every Florida motorist should be careful to ensure that any decorative frame or decal which surrounds the motorist’s license plate does not obscure any portion of the license plate whatsoever. Not doing so leaves the motorist at the peril of a potentially overzealous police officer who may use something as seemingly trivial as a partially obscured license plate as an excuse to pull you over as a means to search your car or investigate you for some other suspected form of wrongdoing.
Contact Experienced West Palm Beach Criminal Defense Attorney Bryan Raymond if You Have Been Pulled Over and Have Been Charged with a Criminal Offense in Palm Beach County, Florida
Experienced West Palm Beach defense attorney Bryan M. Raymond of the Law Office of Bryan Raymond is experienced in defending motorists who have stopped by police for speeding, a broken tail light or any number of other non-criminal moving violations and then find themselves charged with an unrelated criminal offense like a DUI or drug crime. If you have been pulled over by the police for no other reason than because the dealership that you bought or leased your car from included a frame on your license plate that you never bothered to remove or because you have a decorative license plate frame for your favorite South Florida sports team, contact experienced criminal defense attorney Bryan Raymond today at (561) 682-1115 or [email protected].
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