The state Supreme County on Friday granted a new trial to an Ohio man convicted of drug possession and fleeing after police searched his vehicle without a warrant and found drugs.
The court ruled 4-1 that cocaine and methamphetamine found in James Earl Noel Jr's car during his arrest in Bluefield should not have been used as evidence in his original conviction because it was obtained unlawfully.
Noel, 32, was facing 25 years in prison.
"The public and the bar should be pleased to note that the fourth amendment still means something here in West Virginia," said David White, Noel's attorney.
Noel attempted to flee from police on August 23, 2013 after an officer tried to pull him over for a large crack in his windshield. After reaching speeds of 80 to 90 miles per hour, Noel got out of his car and started running on foot.
Once captured and in handcuffs, Noel kept looking at the center console in his car, according to officer testimony. The officer, fearing that there was a gun in the console, opened it to find cocaine and methamphetamine, instead of a gun.
However, the court found that the officer should not have searched the car without a warrant, which meant that the evidence should have been suppressed in the original trial.
"A warrantless search of an automobile must be reasonable in light of the diminished expectation of privacy that a person may have in his automobile as weighed against any exigent circumstances that may exist in a particular case," wrote Justice Brent Benjamin, in support of the majority.
The court largely cited a case from Arizona in which a court that ruled that a suspect looking at something does not give police the reasonable cause to search a vehicle.
"Such furtive gestures, without the presence of contraband or evidence of criminal activity, is not sufficient justification for a warrantless vehicle search," Justice Robin Davis wrote in the majority opinion.
Not all the judges agreed. Justice Allen Laughry felt that there was enough authority to rule that the officer had acted in accordance to the law when he searched Noel's car.
"In effect, the majority was looking for a way to reverse the petitioner's drug convictions and refused to even consider the substantial authority which establishes that the search was constitutionally valid," wrote Laughry.
Noel, who will face a maximum of five years in prison in the new trial, has served three years since his arrest and is eligible for parole in December 2016.
Reach Daniel at Daniel.Desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886, or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.