Alabama v. White

The police received a telephone call from an anonymous person stating that the defendant, Vanessa White, would be leaving an apartment at a certain time in a brown Plymouth station wagon with the right taillight lens broken, that she would be going to a motel, and that she would be in possession of about an ounce of cocaine inside a brown case.

Two officers went to the apartment building. The officers saw a brown Plymouth station wagon with a broken right taillight in the parking lot. The officers observed the defendant, carrying nothing in her hands,  leave the apartment and enter the station wagon. They followed the vehicle as it drove the most direct route to the motel. Officers pulled her over just before she reached the motel. They told her that she had been stopped because she was suspected of carrying cocaine in the vehicle. He asked if they could look for cocaine and the defendant consented. The officers found a locked brown case in the car and, upon request, the defendant provided the combination to the lock. The officers found marijuana in the case and placed her under arrest. During processing at the station, the officers found three milligrams of cocaine in her purse.

The defendant was convicted of possession charges. The Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama reversed, holding that the officers did not have the reasonable suspicion necessary to justify the investigatory stop of defendant’s car, and that the marijuana and cocaine were fruits of the defendant’s unconstitutional detention. The State appealed.