Description: Tulsa, Oklahoma criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with conspiracy, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, unlawful use of a communications facility, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Police dispatch in Tulsa, Oklahoma, received multiple emergency calls from different callers reporting gunshots throughout the night of May 22, 2020, with one caller reporting shots fired from a white Chevrolet Silverado at 6415 S. Mingo Road in Tulsa. Thirty minutes after the first call, Tulsa Police Officer Andrew DeGeorge saw a white Chevrolet Silverado pull into the 6415 S. Mingo Road parking lot. Based on the emergency calls—and Officer DeGeorge’s disputed testimony that the truck’s license plate was not illuminated in compliance with Oklahoma law—he stopped the truck and approached the driver’s side window. The driver, Kenneth Rosenberg, did not roll down the window until commanded by Officer DeGeorge. Defendant Adam Sherwood sat in the passenger seat holding an open container of beer, and a woman, Chasidy St. Clair, sat in the back seat.

When asked, Rosenberg could not produce any identification, and both he and St. Clair admitted to being formerly convicted on felony gun charges. The occupants denied having any firearms or illegal drugs in the vehicle. However, Officer DeGeorge later testified that throughout the encounter the truck’s occupants acted “squirrelly” and “nervous to a higher degree” than those involved in a run-of-the-mill traffic stop. He also noticed what he thought looked like a gun holster in the center console and asked for consent to search the vehicle, which Rosenberg denied. Officer DeGeorge informed Rosenberg that because of Defendant’s open container of beer, he had probable cause to search the vehicle. He then called for backup and waited to search the vehicle until other officers arrived. Officer DeGeorge ordered Rosenberg out of the vehicle and saw an empty gun holster on his hip when he exited. He searched Rosenberg, then walked to the other side of the truck and ordered Defendant to exit. Defendant exited the truck, and Officer DeGeorge placed him in handcuffs for officer safety, but explicitly told Defendant he as not under arrest. He asked Defendant if he had anything he “should be aware of,” and Defendant responded that he had a pocketknife in his left front pocket. Officer DeGeorge patted down Defendant and felt something in his left front pocket. He reached into the pocket and removed a small ball of cash and a baggie containing a brown crystalline substance police later determined was methamphetamine. He
found no pocketknife on Defendant.

While Officer DeGeorge searched the occupants, another officer searched the truck and found “a fully loaded Ruger LCR revolver,” a green zippered bag containing “digital scales and multiple plastic baggies,” and “a magazine and chamber loaded Lorin semiautomatic pistol” without a serial number. The officers then Mirandized Defendant and arrested him. They later obtained a search warrant for his phone and uncovered text messages establishing that Defendant had distributed drugs.

The Defendant moved to suppress the eidence, Which was denied.

Outcome: Defendant was by a jury.

Affirmed on appeal.

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