Judge Grants Suppression Motion – Gun Charges Dismissed

October 2025

Our client was charged with felony possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a concealed firearm in a vehicle. In October 2024, several LAPD patrol vehicles responded to a location in Compton on what they referred to as “hood day.” Officers observed an unknown “black male” holding his waistband in what they believed to be an attempt to conceal a firearm. They also claimed that the same male walked over the vehicle occupied by our client to conceal the firearm. Based on this hunch, multiple officers approached a vehicle occupied by our client and the co-defendant. The officers also approached and detained several other bystanders and indiscriminately searched them for no other reason other than they were standing around in the same liquor store parking lot. Based on this “furtive” movement, the officers approached the vehicle and claimed to observe a firearm and extended magazine sitting on our client’s lap. On cross-examination, the story fell apart. The Judge concluded that there were no articulable facts giving rise to detain and search our client or the co-defendant. For that reason, the court suppressed the fruits of the illegal search (guns) and all charges were dismissed.