NY adopts “objectively reasonable mistake of law” for stops

“In this appeal, we are asked to decide whether there is probable cause to make a traffic stop for a suspected violation of law in accordance with article I, § 12 of the New York State Constitution and the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution if the justification for the stop is based upon a police officer’s objectively reasonable, but mistaken, view of the law. We conclude that where, as here, the officer’s mistake about the law is reasonable, the stop is constitutional.” People v. Guthrie, 2015 NY Slip Op 02867, 2015 N.Y. LEXIS 747 (April 7, 2015).

The court does not accept defendant’s argument that he simply did not understand that he was subject to suspicionless parole searches under Tennessee law or that consent is even an argument. It doesn’t matter that the parole officer had an informant that said that defendant had drugs in the house and the parole officer hadn’t used search warrants in the past. The magnitude of the search was also reasonable: the officers presented his parole certificate, went straight to his bedroom and smelled marijuana and found a gun, and they took a key from him and unlocked a safe finding more. That was all entirely reasonable. United States v. Massengill, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45881 (E.D. Tenn. February 27, 2015), adopted 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45605 (E.D.Tenn. April 8, 2015).*