Kansas Supreme Court delves into implications of a slightly askew license plate
The Kansas Supreme Court affirms the conviction of a person arrested in a 2021 traffic stop in Jackson County that was predicated on officers observing an allegedly unsecure license plate. This photograph of the tag admitted into evidence, which is held by one bolt and leaning to the right, is useful in digesting constitutional question raised in the case. (Submitted)
TOPEKA — The Jackson County traffic stop at 3:30 a.m. Aug. 25, 2021, prompting arrest of passenger Tashara Yeargin-Charles, was an unlikely route to a divided decision by the Kansas Supreme Court on constitutional interpretation of reasonable searches and seizures.
Yeargin-Charles, who engaged in peculiar conduct at the scene along U.S. 75, sought a place in the Supreme Court’s docket to suppress evidence and reverse her district court convictions for possession of methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, interference with law enforcement and transportation of an open liquor container.
A Supreme Court majority considering the appeal rejected her constitutional claims but took the opportunity to further define boundaries on roadside behavior by Kansas law enforcement agencies.
The decision written by Justice Melissa Standridge affirmed Yeargin-Charles’ guilt. In 2024, the Kansas Court of Appeals reached the same conclusion.
Standridge wrote the majority was convinced state law mandated a Kansas license plate had to be securely fastened to the vehicle, positioned at least 12 inches from the ground and clearly visible and legible. The opinion says Jackson County Deputy Justin Dobler and Sergeant Travis DeBarge made a constitutional stop after observing the plate on the Yeargin-Charles vehicle sagged to the right.
“Upon review, we find substantial competent evidence supports the factual underpinnings of the district court’s conclusion that Deputy Dobler had reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle for a suspected violation,” her opinion said.
Standridge pointed to officers’ testimony that the plate was “loosely secured by a bolt or a screw on the left side in the manufacturer’s hole and was tilted downwards to the right,” the tag was “not secured by anything” on the opposite end and the plate was visibly “flapping in the wind.”
The 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights protect individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. Traffic stops have been determined to be constitutionally permissible when law enforcement officers had facts supporting reasonable suspicion someone was committing, had committed or was about to commit a crime.
Dissent on hanging tag
Justice Caleb Stegall, in a dissent joined by Justices Eric Rosen and K.J. Wall, said the majority chose not to adhere to a “strict reading” of Kansas statute.
Each word of K.S.A. 8-133(c) should be considered, Stegall wrote, because the case hinged on whether the tag on the Honda carrying Yeargin-Charles was “flapping” as officers claimed or “swinging” in terms of what state law banned.
Stegall argued state law articulated a vehicle license plate had to be “securely fastened … to prevent the plate from swinging.” He said Kansas courts had an duty to conclude a Kansas plate was in violation of state law only when it was observed swinging.
The Supreme Court recently adhered to strict reading of state law to decide Beck v. State, which involved determining whether obstruction of the state name on a Kansas license plate justified a traffic stop. The Supreme Court reversed lower courts and rejected the claim that Geary County officers had reasonable suspicion to make a stop because the state name wasn’t legible. In that case, the Supreme Court said the traffic stop was forbidden because state law addressed only visibility of the plate’s alphanumeric display and registration decal.
Stegall said the majority’s reasoning in Kansas v. Tashara D. Yeargin-Charles conflicted with the approach to Beck v. State. He said state law defined the degree to which a license tag had to be fastened by emphasizing the connection must prevent swinging.
Jackson County law enforcement officers testified the plate was flapping — not swinging.
“One does not need to be a legal scholar or even dissect these dictionary definitions to understand that flapping and shaking are not factually identical terms to swinging,” Stegall wrote. “We abandon our duty of independent review when we simply defer to an officer’s testimony about what counts as secure. Is a plate with two bolts secure if an officer thinks it isn’t?”
In Standridge’s majority opinion, she said dissenting justices focused narrowly on the phrase in state law requiring motorists “to prevent the plate from swinging” and overlooked broader requirements that plates had to be “securely fastened.”
“Even if we were to accept the dissent’s flawed interpretation — that a license plate meeting all other requirements violates K.S.A. 8-133(c) only when it is actually swinging — the touchstone of our analysis is whether it was reasonable for the officer to think the law was being broken, not technical perfection in statutory parsing,” she said.
Peach vodka and a joint
In the Court of Appeals decision affirming Yeargin-Charles’ convictions, judges offered details about the Jackson county traffic stop.
DeBarge observed an open container of alcohol inside the vehicle and instructed the three occupants to exit so officers could search the vehicle. Dobler examined Yeargin-Charles’ purse and found an open bottle of peach vodka, a marijuana joint and a pipe with burnt meth residue.
While the purse was being searched, the Court of Appeals said, Yeargin-Charles dropped to the ground and claimed she was about to give birth. As medical staff arrived, Yeargin-Charles was observed “screaming, farting and trying to force herself to throw up.”
Yeargin-Charles also informed the Jackson County officers that she had COVID-19 and was a paranoid schizophrenic. She was transported to a Topeka hospital, where medical staff reported she wasn’t pregnant.