Waugh v. Com., No. 0093-90-3
| Docket Nº | No. 0093-90-3 |
| Citation | 405 S.E.2d 429, 12 Va.App. 620 |
| Case Date | June 04, 1991 |
| Court | Court of Appeals of Virginia |
Page 429
v.
COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.
[12 Va.App. 621] Joseph Graham Painter, Jr., Blacksburg, for appellant.
Janet F. Rosser, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Mary Sue Terry, Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellee.
Before KOONTZ, C.J., and BARROW and MOON, JJ.
MOON, Judge.
In this appeal, we hold that a police radio broadcast, indicating that a person in a blue van was suspected of selling vacuum cleaners without a license and being very pushy in trying to gain entrance into person's houses, was insufficient to give rise to an articulable and reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot, warranting the officer's actions in pulling over the appellant's van for an investigatory stop. Therefore, the evidence obtained during the stop was inadmissible and we reverse Arnold Leon Waugh's conviction of driving after having been declared an habitual offender.
On June 28, 1989, Officer Nathaniel S. Parker received a radio dispatch that there had been "numerous calls of a suspicious light blue van in the residential area of Christiansburg, possibly selling vacuum cleaners with no permit and being very pushy trying to gain entry into homes." Approximately four or five minutes after the broadcast, the officer saw a light blue van. He followed the van and radioed the dispatcher to verify its license plate number. Ascertaining that this was the van in question, he pulled the van over. The officer testified that the driver had committed no traffic infraction and was stopped solely to investigate the possibility that he was selling vacuum cleaners without a license. He approached the appellant, who was driving the van, and asked for his solicitor's permit. The appellant did not have a solicitor's permit in his possession, although he did in fact have a permit. An inquiry through the Division of Motor Vehicles revealed that the appellant had been adjudicated an habitual offender in 1980.
To stop an automobile and detain its occupants is impermissible "except in those situations in which there is at least an articulable and reasonable suspicion that a motorist ... is ... subject to seizure for violation of law." Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 663, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 1401, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979). "If the stop of the vehicle is without a warrant,[12 Va.App. 622] the Commonwealth has the burden to prove the stop
Page 430
was legal." Murphy v....To continue reading
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Lantion v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Record No. 2617-05-4 (Va. App. 12/18/2007), Record No. 2617-05-4
...detention is unreasonable, the court should make an "objective assessment of the totality of the circumstances." Waugh v. Commonwealth, 12 Va. App. 620, 622, 405 S.E.2d 429, 430 (1991). In doing so, "common sense and ordinary human experience must govern over rigid criteria." United States ......
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Lantion v. Commonwealth, Record No. 2617-05-4 (Va. App. 4/3/2007), Record No. 2617-05-4.
...detention is unreasonable, the court should make an "objective assessment of the totality of the circumstances." Waugh v. Commonwealth, 12 Va. App. 620, 622, 405 S.E.2d 429, 430 (1991). In doing so, "common sense and ordinary human experience must govern over rigid criteria." United States ......
-
Lantion v. Commonwealth, Record No. 2617-05-4 (Va. App. 2/13/2007), Record No. 2617-05-4.
...detention is unreasonable, the court should make an "objective assessment of the totality of the circumstances." Waugh v. Commonwealth, 12 Va. App. 620, 622, 405 S.E.2d 429, 430 (1991). In doing so, "common sense and ordinary human experience must govern over rigid criteria." United States ......
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Jackson v. Com., No. 2035-94-2
...for violation of law.' " Bulatko v. Commonwealth, 16 Va.App. 135, 136-37, 428 S.E.2d 306, 307 (1993) (quoting Waugh v. Commonwealth, 12 Va.App. 620, 621-22, 405 S.E.2d 429, 429 (1991)). Although the Page 142 Commonwealth has the burden of proving that such an investigatory stop is lawful, t......
-
Lantion v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Record No. 2617-05-4 (Va. App. 12/18/2007), Record No. 2617-05-4
...detention is unreasonable, the court should make an "objective assessment of the totality of the circumstances." Waugh v. Commonwealth, 12 Va. App. 620, 622, 405 S.E.2d 429, 430 (1991). In doing so, "common sense and ordinary human experience must govern over rigid criteria." United States ......
-
Lantion v. Commonwealth, Record No. 2617-05-4 (Va. App. 4/3/2007), Record No. 2617-05-4.
...detention is unreasonable, the court should make an "objective assessment of the totality of the circumstances." Waugh v. Commonwealth, 12 Va. App. 620, 622, 405 S.E.2d 429, 430 (1991). In doing so, "common sense and ordinary human experience must govern over rigid criteria." United States ......
-
Lantion v. Commonwealth, Record No. 2617-05-4 (Va. App. 2/13/2007), Record No. 2617-05-4.
...detention is unreasonable, the court should make an "objective assessment of the totality of the circumstances." Waugh v. Commonwealth, 12 Va. App. 620, 622, 405 S.E.2d 429, 430 (1991). In doing so, "common sense and ordinary human experience must govern over rigid criteria." United States ......
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Jackson v. Com., No. 2035-94-2
...for violation of law.' " Bulatko v. Commonwealth, 16 Va.App. 135, 136-37, 428 S.E.2d 306, 307 (1993) (quoting Waugh v. Commonwealth, 12 Va.App. 620, 621-22, 405 S.E.2d 429, 429 (1991)). Although the Page 142 Commonwealth has the burden of proving that such an investigatory stop is lawful, t......