United States v. Hernandez

17 F. Supp. 3d 1255, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18736, 2014 WL 587864
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedFebruary 14, 2014
DocketCriminal Action No. 1:12-CR-322-AT
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 17 F. Supp. 3d 1255 (United States v. Hernandez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Hernandez, 17 F. Supp. 3d 1255, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18736, 2014 WL 587864 (N.D. Ga. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

AMY TOTENBERG, District Judge.

The Court issued an Order on January 13, 2014 [Doc. 80] denying Defendant’s Motion to Suppress Evidence [Doc. 13]. This Memorandum sets forth in greater detail the Court’s findings and analysis.

As summarized in the Court’s prior order, the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation (“R & R”) [Doc. 49] recommended the denial of Defendant’s Motion. Defendant thereafter filed objections to the R & R’s factual and legal findings and recommendations [Doc. 52]. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1), the Court reviews any portion of the R & R that is the subject of a proper objection on a de novo basis and any non-objected portion on a “clearly erroneous” standard. Accordingly, the Court has reviewed the record in this case on a de novo basis, including all videos among other items, and additionally conducted a supplemental evidentiary hearing on November 21, 2013.1

I. DISCUSSION

After a thorough review of the record, the Court adopts the factual summary set forth in the R & R, subject to the following modifications and exceptions. Specifically, the Court makes the following supplemental findings:

1. On Sunday, June 24, 2012, Douglas County Police Department Justin Manwar-ing conducted a traffic stop of Defendant Santas Hernandez. The stop was based on Deputy Manwaring’s asserted reasonable suspicion or probable cause determination that Hernandez had committed the traffic offense of failing to drive the vehicle “as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane ... until the driver has first ascertained that such movement can be made with safety[.]” O.C.G.A. § 40-6-48(1). The video and testimony in this case indicate that Ms. Hernandez drove carefully and within speed limits when she was stopped by Deputy Manwaring.2 The road conditions at very most indicated light to moderate traffic. Although Deputy Manwaring had been dispatched expressly for the purpose of stopping Hernandez’s vehicle on the basis of a traffic violation, he did not manually turn on the patrol car’s video camera. Instead, the video was automatically activated shortly before the actual traffic stop. (Tr. 11/21/2013 Hrg. at 34-35.) Thus, the video available only captures the second purported lane change violation, when Hernandez’s tires touched the dotted marking-lines on the right side of the lane.3 (Id. at 36.)

[1257]*12572. No evidence from the hearing or any other source suggests that Ms. Hernandez’s driving was in reality suspicious, risky, or suggestive of intoxication or an actual lack of control of the car. Instead, the stop was based on Deputy Manwar-ing’s application of a hyper-technical interpretation regarding the scope of the prohibition on “lane touching” under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-48(1). Deputy Manwaring testified at the supplemental hearing that Ms. Hernandez touched the lane marker line twice and that he stopped Defendant solely and strictly based on her purported technical violation of touching the line of her lane while driving on two occasions. (Id. at 35.) As Deputy Manwaring testified, “I didn’t pull her over for weaving ... I pulled her over for driving over the lane lines.” (Id. at 36.) He considered any touching of the lane line whatsoever to constitute a Georgia traffic law violation, even if the driver had neither waved within the lane nor exhibited other driving conduct that might suggest incapacity. Thus, Deputy Man-waring testified, “[a traffic] violation occurs when the vehicle touches the line” even if many drivers in fact incidentally touch the lane lines while driving on the highway. (Id. at 37.)

3. Based on its review of the video showing Defendant’s driving on June 24, 2012, the Court finds that while the Defendant’s vehicle may have touched the marking line of the lane on the second occasion noted by Deputy Manwaring, the car did not veer or do more than touch the marking line. The testimony did not indicate that Hernandez completely or partially crossed into the lane of traffic of another vehicle.

4. Although Deputy Manwaring viewed the first incident not captured in the video as involving somewhat more marked lane touching or “drifting,” the Defendant’s first lane touching incident as described in his testimony does not materially differ from the second touching incident captured by videotape.4 (Id. at 36-37; Tr. 3/27/13 at 18, 52.)

5. Under the above factual circumstances, the Court declines to adopt the Magistrate Judge’s determination that the traffic stop was lawfully initiated based on probable cause or reasonable suspicion that Defendant had violated O.C.G.A. § 40-6-48. That statute provides:

Whenever any roadway has been divided into two or more clearly marked lanes for traffic ... (1) A vehicle shall be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane and shall not be moved from such lane until the driver has first ascertained that such movement can be made with safety[.]

O.C.G.A. § 40-6-48(1).

The Court agrees with Judge Evans’ recent decision analyzing the Georgia courts’ interpretation and application of this traffic standard. United States v. Bryson, 2013 WL 5739055 (N.D.Ga. Oct. 21, 2013). Judge Evans first summarized the standard applicable to assessing the constitutionality of the traffic stop:

“A traffic stop constitutes a ‘seizure’ within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.” United States v. Smith, 448 Fed.Appx. 936, 938 (11th Cir.2011) cert. denied, — U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 1453, 185 L.Ed.2d 361 (2013) (citation omitted). However, a traffic stop of a vehicle is constitutional [1258]*1258if it is based on probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred or if officers have a “reasonable, articu-lable suspicion” that an individual is engaged in criminal activity. United States v. Harris, 526 F.3d 1334, 1337 (11th Cir.2008) (per curiam) (quoting United States v. Powell, 222 F.3d 913, 917 (11th Cir.2000)).

Id. at *3. After discussing relevant Georgia case authority, Judge Evans concluded that touching the line “is a factor that may, in combination unth other conduct, give rise to probable cause justifying a traffic stop” but that “in the absence of such additional conduct, the mere touching of the white dashed line between two or more clearly marked lanes is insufficient” by itself to provide a basis for law enforcement to stop the vehicle. Id. at *4 (emphasis supplied). In Bryson, as in this case, the defendant’s conduct “involved nothing more than touching the lane line on two occasions.” Id.

6. Judge Evans found in Bryson,

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17 F. Supp. 3d 1255, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18736, 2014 WL 587864, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hernandez-gand-2014.