State v. Chambers, COA23-1057, ___ N.C. App. ___ (Dec. 3, 2024)

In this Mecklenburg County case, defendant appealed his convictions for trafficking in cocaine, arguing plain error in denying his motion to suppress the results of a traffic stop, or alternatively, ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to object to admission of the evidence. The Court of Appeals found no error and no ineffective assistance of counsel.

In August of 2017, a confidential informant told Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department detectives that defendant was selling heroin in Charlotte and gave defendant’s address and vehicles he used to distribute narcotics. After surveilling defendant and obtaining a search warrant for his residence and person, officers observed a vehicle with defendant as the passenger moving what was suspected to be a package of narcotics. A detective initiated a stop, and a K-9 walkaround resulted in an alert for the odor of narcotics. A subsequent search turned up cocaine, forming the basis of the charges. Before trial, defense counsel filed a motion to suppress, but subsequently withdrew arguments “regarding the detention of Defendant and regarding the search of the car,” going forward only with the issue of whether officers had probable cause to stop the vehicle. Slip Op. at 2. The trial court denied the motion to suppress, and defense counsel did not object at trial to the admission of the evidence from the stop.

The Court of Appeals took up defendant’s arguments, noting that to succeed on either alternative defendant had to show error. Here the court found no error, as the trial court’s findings of fact were supported by competent evidence, and “specific and articulable facts” supported the detective’s reasonable suspicion when initiating a stop of the car. Id. at 13.