A woman convicted of possession of marijuana and transportation of marijuana for sale in 2019, following a traffic stop between Tucson and Phoenix, had her convictions and sentences vacated, Monday.
The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court erred in denying Asalia Alvarez-Soto's motion to suppress the evidence seized from the vehicle she was driving because law enforcement lacked reasonable suspicion to conduct a traffic stop.
According to court documents, Alvarez-Soto was pulled over in 2018. Arizona Department of Public Safety Trooper Ashton Shewey saw a sedan driving in the Pinal County area with a "newer" license plate registered in Nogales. Shewey ran her plate and found that the sedan had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border multiple times.
Shewey decided to make a traffic stop based on the details, which fit the profile of a vehicle used to transport drugs across the border, the documents said.
Shewey followed the sedan, which Alvarez-Soto was driving in the middle of three lanes on Interstate 10. Shewey first saw that Alvarez-Soto was traveling three miles above the posted speed limit of 75 miles per hour. After several minutes, Alvarez-Soto slowed down to 70 miles per hour, Shewey told the court.
At that point, a red SUV overtook Alvarez-Soto on her right. Shewey took that as sufficient grounds to pull Alvarez-Soto over. Arizona law requires slower traffic to remain in the right-hand lane.
Alvarez-Soto initially gave Shewey consent to search the sedan, but revoked her permission after reading the consent form, court documents said. Shewey then asked Alvarez-Soto if he could run his K9 around the vehicle, to which she agreed. The dog altered Shewey to the presence of drugs in the car. Shewey searched the vehicle and found a suitcase in the truck that contained bundles of marijuana.
Before trial, Alvarez-Soto moved to suppress the evidence gathered during the search, arguing that Shewey had lacked reasonable suspicion to conduct the traffic stop. The trial court denied the motion and Alvarez-Soto was convicted.
On appeal, Alvarez-Soto argued that Shewey did not have reasonable suspicion to initiate a traffic stop just because driving "at and around the speed limit in the middle lane of I-10" was not a violation of the law, which required vehicles driving more slowly than the surrounding traffic to drive in the right-hand lane.
The court agreed with Alvarez-Soto, saying there was no proof that any other car, besides the red SUV, passed her. The court said the state offered no testimony that traveling at 70 miles per hour was below the posted maximum speed limit.
For these reasons, the appeals court determined "the trial court erred in concluding that Shewey had reasonably stopped Alvarez-Soto and in failing to suppress the evidence collected during the resulting search," the opinion said.
