PASSENGERS CAN CHALLENGE POLICE STOPS, JUSTICES RULE

Constitution Covers More Than Just Driver

WASHINGTON A passenger in a car stopped by police has a right, just as
the driver does, to challenge the constitutionality of the stop, the
Supreme Court ruled Monday.

Monday's unanimous ruling clarified the breadth of the Fourth
Amendment, which prohibits police from stopping vehicles without a
reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. Evidence found in the course of an
illegal stop usually cannot be used at trial.

The justices reversed a California Supreme Court ruling that said a
passenger unlike the driver would feel free to leave the car and
therefore would not be detained for purposes of the Fourth Amendment.

Writing for the court, Justice David Souter said that view defies
reality. "A sensible person would not expect a police officer to allow
people to come and go," he said, stressing that the police's show of
authority restricts a passenger's sense of freedom. Souter said that
most U.S. courts had adopted that view and that the California state
court was in the minority.

Monday's decision threw out the conviction of Bruce Brendlin, who was
caught with drug paraphernalia after the car in which he was riding
was stopped. The officers lacked grounds to pull the car over, and
Brendlin argued that the drug evidence had to be kept out of court.

In November 2001, two officers in Yuba City stopped the Buick in which
Brendlin was riding to check the vehicle's registration, although
according to the filings in the case the officers did not believe it
was being operated illegally. During a search of the car, they found
items used to produce methamphetamine. Police found a syringe cap in
Brendlin's shirt pocket.

Brendlin pleaded guilty to the manufacturing of methamphetamine,
subject to his appeal on the question of the search. He was sentenced
to four years in prison.

The California Supreme Court had upheld his conviction, saying a
passenger "is not seized as a constitutional matter."

Souter said the California court failed to follow cases that dictate
that a seizure occurs if a reasonable person thinks he is not free to
leave the car. Souter also said the lower court's view could "invite
police officers to stop cars with passengers regardless of
suspicion of anything illegal."