Hernandez v. Georgia

Edgar Betancourt and appellant Oscar Hernandez were tried by a jury and convicted of trafficking cocaine. At trial, the State presented evidence that Betancourt and Hernandez were stopped by law enforcement officers in Gwinnett County. In the course of that traffic stop, the officers found the cocaine hidden in the car, a Nissan with a Massachusetts tag and dark tinted windows. The State also presented evidence of a similar transaction, in which Betancourt and Hernandez had been stopped two weeks earlier by law enforcement officers in North Carolina. In the course of that stop, the North Carolina officers found $195,000 hidden in the car, a Mercedes with a Massachusetts tag and dark tinted windows. Betancourt and Hernandez both appealed their convictions; among other claims of error, Hernandez asserted that the trial court should have suppressed the evidence of the similar transaction because the State failed to prove the lawfulness of the North Carolina traffic stop. The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions, reasoning that the suppression of evidence seized by out-of-state law enforcement officers would have yielded no appreciable deterrence, and held that the exclusionary rule did not apply in this case to require the suppression of the similar transaction evidence, even assuming that such evidence was seized unlawfully. After its review, the Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court's judgment, but on different grounds: Hernandez merely argued that the State had failed to prove the lawfulness of the stop. The State had no burden to prove the lawfulness of the stop until its lawfulness was put in issue by a motion that complied with the statutory requirements, and it was undisputed that Hernandez filed no such motion. Accordingly, the trial court ruled that the State was not required to prove that the evidence was obtained lawfully. Hernandez failed to preserve any error with respect to the suppression of the similar transaction evidence. View "Hernandez v. Georgia" on Justia Law