Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

Thank you for your question. If the driver did not violate any rules of the road, the police would not have any probable cause to pull the driver over and, if the police stopped the driver without any probable cause, this would constitute an "illegal" stop and any search the police conducted would be an illegal search. Therefore, anything the police found as a result of their illegal search would not be admissible in any Court.

The same rule would apply if the driver's license was DUI suspended. If the driver did not violate any "rules of the road", there would be no reason for the police to stop him. Police cannot follow, or stop a driver based on a hunch or a "gut feeling" that the driver had a DUI suspended license, or that he had a warrant in another state.

The US Supreme Court has held that police officers cannot stop a vehicle on a "hunch"; they must have "articulable" reasons for stopping a vehicle. In other words, the police must be able to articulate their reasons for stopping a vehicle, and absent these "articulable" reasons, the stop is illegal and any search conducted is an illegal search. Anything discovered during this illegal stop and search is considered "fruits of the poisonous tree" and is, therefore, inadmissible in any criminal proceeding against the driver.

Kindest regards,