United States of America v. Keith Rodney Moore

Richmond, Virginia criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with illegal possession of a firearm.<br>
<br>
When Richmond, Virginia, police officers observed a vehicle with the temporary license tag number 11134Y, they concluded that it was a fake tag because, within the preceding hours, they had stopped two other vehicles with the identical temporary tag number. The officers activated the lights on their patrol car to institute a stop, but the driver, Keith Moore, failed to stop and instead fled, running several stop signs before crashing into a curb. Moore then exited the vehicle, leaving the engine running and the door open, and ran on foot. After the officers caught and detained him, they observed a gun on the floorboard of Moore's vehicle. Following a records check that revealed that Moore had previously been convicted of a felony, they arrested him for the illegal possession of a firearm. A federal grand jury subsequently indicted Moore for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).<br>
<br>
Moore filed a motion to suppress, contending that the traffic stop had violated his Fourth Amendment rights and that the officers interrogated him in violation of his Miranda rights. During a hearing on the motion, Moore presented evidence that all traffic stops made that day by the officers who arrested him were made in predominantly Black neighborhoods, suggesting that the police had targeted him because he was Black, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.<br>
<br>
The court authorized further investigation and briefing, and after conducting several hearings and receiving testimony from both parties, including expert testimony, it dismissed Moore's indictment on the ground that it was the product of selective law enforcement against Black drivers. While the court found that the police officers had probable cause to stop Moore and that there was no evidence of their "invidious or bad faith,” it nonetheless relied on statistical evidence that Black drivers were 5.13 times more likely to be stopped in Richmond than White drivers, viewed in the context of Richmond's history of racial discrimination, to conclude that Moore had "successfully shown both the discriminatory effect and discriminatory purpose elements required for [a] selective enforcement claim.”<br>
<br>
<br>

Reversed