DWI Dismissed After Unlawful Search

Officers received a call about a suspicious person. When they arrived on the scene, they found the defendant in the driver’s seat of a vehicle with his music turned up loud. They knocked several times, but the defendant did not answer the door. Officers opened the door and engaged the defendant in conversation. During the conversation the defendant admitted to consuming alcohol and admitted that he was impaired. He was given standardized field sobriety tests and officers later charged the defendant with Driving While Impaired. We were heard on a motion to suppress challenging whether the officer’s opening of the defendant’s car door amounted to an unlawful search. The case was dismissed after winning the motion to suppress due Mr. Marshall’s ability to convince the court that the officer’s search of the vehicle was unlawful.