Defendant appealed from the denial of his motion to suppress evidence in his drug charge case. Defendant also challenged the sentence imposed following his jury conviction. Two police officers on routine patrol passed defendant driving in the opposite direction and noticed that he was not wearing a seatbelt. The officers then began following defendant's vehicle but did not activate their lights and sirens. Defendant ultimately drove to a residence that was not his and parked in the driveway. The officers caught up to defendant and initiated a traffic stop because his vehicle was blocking the public sidewalk. The officers determined that defendant's driving privileges in New Jersey had been suspended and that he had an arrest warrant for failure to appear in court. Defendant was arrested and because he could not arrange for someone to retrieve his vehicle, he asked the officers to grab some personal items. However, when the officers reached into the vehicle to retrieve the items, they found glass vials and sealed zipper bags that contained cocaine and heroin. At trial, the trial court denied defendant's motion to suppress, ruling that he had consented to a limited search of the vehicle to retrieve his personal items, during which the officers discovered the drugs in plain view. The trial court further held that the drugs would have been found under the inevitable discovery doctrine as the vehicle was to be towed. On appeal, the court affirmed defendant's conviction but remanded for resentencing. The court agreed that defendant had asked the officers to retrieve items from his vehicle, while the officers would not have entered the car absent defendant's request.
