Facts
At approximately 11:10 p.m. on the evening of January 17, 2021, Deputy Ben Bryok of the Tate County Sheriff’s Office initiated a traffic stop of a vehicle for failing to use a turn signal. Deputy Bryok approached the vehicle, and the driver identified himself as Glenn Rash. Rash’s girlfriend, Anna Rook, owned the vehicle. Rook was in the passenger seat of the vehicle during the traffic stop.
Deputy Bryok testified that upon approaching the vehicle, the first thing he noticed was a rifle with an extended magazine sticking out from underneath a blanket in the backseat. Deputy Bryok questioned Rook and Rash about the gun. According to Deputy Bryok, Rash said that the gun belonged to Rook. Rook, however, told Deputy Bryok that the gun belonged to her cousin James Howard.
After communicating with dispatch, Deputy Bryok learned that Rash was a felon. Deputy Bryok detained Rash and secured the weapon for further investigation. Captain Lisa Sanders, an investigator for the Tate County Sheriff’s Office, conducted an investigation into the ownership of the gun. Captain Sanders testified that the gun was last registered to Mr. A. Kelly of Memphis, Tennessee.
A grand jury ultimately indicted Rash for one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of section 97-37-5(1). At trial, Rook testified regarding the events that occurred surrounding the traffic stop. According to Rook, Rash picked her up from work at approximately 11:00 p.m. Rook explained that Rash’s vehicle was not working, so she allowed Rash to drive her car. Rash got off work earlier than Rook, and Rook estimated that Rash was in possession of her car for approximately five hours before he picked her up that night. Rook testified that when she entered the vehicle after work, she did not notice any unusual items inside it.
Regarding the gun recovered from the backseat, Rook testified that the gun belonged to Rash. Rook also testified that she had seen the gun at Rash’s house on prior occasions. Rook admitted that during the traffic stop, she lied to Deputy Bryok regarding the ownership of the gun. Rook explained that before Deputy Bryok approached the vehicle, Rash had asked her to claim ownership of the gun. According to Rook, Rash assured her that she would not get in trouble for claiming ownership of the gun but that if he claimed it, he would go to jail. Rook admitted she lied to Deputy Bryok when she told him that the gun was hers and that she had gotten it from Howard; she told the jury she said that because she wanted to prevent Rash from getting in trouble. Rash did not testify in his own defense, nor did the defense put on any other witnesses.
The jury returned a verdict finding Rash guilty of one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and the trial court sentenced Rash to serve ten years in the custody of the MDOC. On appeal, Rash claimed there was no probable cause for the stop. MCOA affirmed.
Analysis
Rash asserts that Deputy Bryok lacked probable cause to conduct the traffic stop, so the evidence obtained during that stop is inadmissible. For the reasons addressed below, we are not persuaded by Rash’s assertions on this point.
Traffic stops are Fourth-Amendment seizures. Rash’s lack-of-probable-cause argument fails because Deputy Bryok’s traffic stop was not “unreasonable.” “Typically, a stop is reasonable if a law-enforcement officer has
probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred. Section 63-3-707 requires that a driver turning right or left give a continuous signal for a reasonable distance before turning in the event any other vehicle may be affected. This statute clearly requires a signal when other vehicles may be affected by a turn—even when
no accident is likely to occur as the result of the driver’s failure to give a proper signal.
Deputy Bryok testified that he stopped Rash for failure to use a turn signal. In particular, the trial judge heard Deputy Bryok testify that he was posted at the intersection of Peyton Road and U.S. Highway 51 when he saw Rash’s direction of travel and saw Rash not use his turn signal at this intersection. We find that this is probable cause for the traffic stop.
Rash argues that there is no probable cause because Deputy Bryok did not give him a ticket for the traffic offense, but this assertion is without merit. There is no requirement that an officer issue a citation for the predicate traffic violation to have a valid stop or search. In short, because Deputy Bryok observed Rash
commit a traffic violation, there was probable cause to initiate the traffic stop.