COURT REVERSES COCAINE CONVICTION BASED ON ILLEGAL SEARCH

Police officers who request identification from passengers in a vehicle
stopped for a traffic violation cannot seek information on the passenger
without reasonable suspicion that a crime occurred, the Colorado Supreme
Court ruled Monday.

The ruling came in a case from Adams County in which Derek Lavan Jackson
was a passenger in a vehicle stopped in October 1999 because its headlights
were not on.

When Officer Brant Harrold ran a check on Jackson, he discovered three
pending traffic warrants and brought him to jail. As Jackson was being
booked, officers found about one-tenth of a gram of crack cocaine in his
jacket, and he was later convicted of possession of a controlled substance.

The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that Harrold's request for Jackson's
identification constituted a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.

The Supreme Court disagreed, saying the request itself did not violate
Jackson's rights.

Justices agreed with the appeals court that when Harrold sought information
on whether Jackson had any outstanding warrants, the encounter escalated
into an investigatory stop needing reasonable suspicion to justify it.

Jackson was free to refuse Harrold's request for identification, but he had
no choice but to wait for the officer to check for warrants, the court said.

"Because the officer lacked the reasonable suspicion necessary to justify
an investigatory stop, ordering (Jackson) to stay in the car while
retaining his identification constituted a violation of (Jackson's) Fourth
Amendment rights," the Supreme Court ruled.

The Court of Appeals had reversed a lower court's ruling allowing admission
of the cocaine as evidence against Jackson. The Supreme Court agreed with
the appeals court, saying the cocaine was seized illegally, and ordered new
court action based on that decision.