The Supreme Court has ruled that it is acceptable for police to use evidence in a criminal case which was obtained from a car that has been pulled over for an unrelated reason. The case behind this ruling was that of Nicholas Heien, a North Carolina Resident. Heien was pulled over because a police officer (mistakenly) thought that it was illegal to drive with only one brake light. When he pulled the car over, the officer observed a bag full of cocaine and seized it and arrested Heien.
Heien attempted to fight the charge in court with an old law which states that only one brake light is needed to drive, however this did not hold up in court as the justices sided with the officer, allowing him that the wording of the law was confusing and it was understandable that he misinterpreted it. Most of the court agreed with the arguments that these small mistakes are acceptable because if they were not permitted, it would make the police officers jobs much harder in situations where they would need to make quick decisions.
Although one justice disagreed with the rest, arguing that even if it is an understandable mistake, police should not be allowed to use evidence obtained from a car when there was no reason to pull over the car in the first place. Her argument did not gain support from the others and they said that it was the courts job to interpret the laws rather than the officers.
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