AI Generated Opinion Summaries

This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.

Facts

• Defendant Rafael Almeida was stopped for a traffic violation after making a left turn into the far right lane, which the officer believed was a violation. This stop led to Almeida's arrest and subsequent charges for various misdemeanors and felonies. Almeida filed a motion to suppress evidence from the stop, arguing the stop was improper due to a misinterpretation of the law regarding left turns and that the officer expanded the investigation without reasonable suspicion (paras 1-7).

Procedural History

• District Court of San Juan County: Denied motion to suppress evidence gathered from the traffic stop (para 2).

Parties' Submissions

• Defendant-Appellant: Argued that the initial traffic stop was improper as the law does not specify into which lane a vehicle must turn after making a left turn and that the officer expanded the scope of the investigation without reasonable suspicion (para 1).
• Plaintiff-Appellee: [Not applicable or not found]

Legal Issues

• Whether the law requires that left turning traffic must turn into the leftmost lane available (para 2).
• Whether the officer had reasonable suspicion to expand the investigation during the traffic stop (para 1).

Disposition

• The Court of Appeals reversed the district court's denial of the motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of the traffic stop (para 16).

Reasons

• Per Michael D. Bustamante, Judge (Linda M. Vanzi, Judge concurring): The court found that Section 66-7-322 does not require left-turning traffic to turn into the leftmost lane available. The court held that the officer's belief that failing to complete a left-hand turn into the leftmost lane constituted a traffic violation was a mistake of law, rendering the traffic stop and subsequent evidence collection unlawful (paras 2, 12-16).
  Roderick T. Kennedy, Judge (dissenting): Disagreed with the majority's interpretation of Sections 66-7-322(B) and (D), arguing that the law requires a left-turning driver to enter the road onto which he turns in the lane closest to the center line, thus dissenting from the majority opinion (para 18).