By The Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court reversed the drug-trafficking conviction of an Illinois-tagged motorist linked to evidence seized from a vehicle stopped by Geary County law enforcement merely because the frame around a license plate obstructed part of the state’s name.
The unanimous Supreme Court noted Kansas statute didn’t require a state’s name on license plates to be clearly legible. The justices agreed partial obstruction of a word on the out-of-state plate at the center of this case couldn’t provide a Kansas law enforcement officer the opportunity to formulate reasonable suspicion that a crime was or would occur to warrant a traffic stop.
This saga began in March 2021 when Geary County sheriff’s deputy Bradley Rose pulled over motorist Brian Beck on Interstate 70 near Junction City because he noticed half of the word “Illinois” couldn’t be easily read on the tag.
Rose nevertheless called in Beck’s tag to dispatch as “Illinois Charles John 14442” before stepping out of his cruiser, the Supreme Court opinion said. Rose said at trial Beck appeared “extremely nervous,” was breathing deeply during the traffic stop and admitted to being lost. The deputy decided that was enough to detain Beck and call in a drug dog.
During the canine inspection, the animal alerted to possible presence of illegal drugs. The vehicle search revealed a satchel with 2.1 pounds of methamphetamine. At one point, Beck tried to flee the scene but was arrested.
Geary County District Judge Courtney Boehm, an appointee of Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer, rejected the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence obtained in the search. Beck was found guilty of possession with intent to distribute, failure to purchase a drug tax stamp and interference with a law enforcement officer.
Beck, 56, was sentenced to at least 10 years in prison and was at Winfield Correctional Facility when the Supreme Court’s decision was handed down. A Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman said the agency wouldn’t release inmates until a court forwarded necessary paperwork to the prison.
In 2024, a three-judge panel of the Kansas Court of Appeals affirmed Beck’s convictions based on a belief Beck’s license plate wasn’t clearly visible as required.
Beck filed an appeal to the Supreme Court, which concluded the Geary County judge applied an improper legal standard for deciding whether law enforcement had reasonable suspicion to justify a stop and search. The justices likewise concluded the Court of Appeals reached the wrong determination on suppression of evidence.
The Supreme Court opinion authored by Justice Eric Rosen wiped Beck’s convictions off the books and sent the case back to district court to determine whether the deputy had “constitutionally valid grounds for making the stop and seizure.”
The high court’s 13-page opinion could serve as a roadmap for Geary County’s reexamination of available evidence in the Beck case.
“No statute requires displaying the Kansas state name anywhere other than on the registration decal, where it may be abbreviated,” said Rosen, who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. “It places no such requirement on anything else printed on a license plate, whether it is an ‘I’m Pet Friendly’ logo or a state name.”
The Supreme Court’s decision could offer relief to thousands of drivers in Kansas who installed or left in place brackets on license plates and unwittingly opened themselves to traffic stops, drug-dog searches and seizures by law enforcement.
Supreme Court Justice Dan Biles, who also was appointed by Sebelius, was among members of the Supreme Court perplexed by willingness of the lower courts to broaden license plate regulation in a way that threatened motorists with a fine up to $2,500 or a jail sentence ranging from 30 days to six months.
“There are a lot of frames that cover up half of the word ‘Kansas’ — a lot,” Biles said during oral argument of the case in November. “Anyone driving with that frame is subject to six months in jail? Is that where we’re at with the state’s position on this and this Court of Appeals’ decision?”
“I believe that’s what the statute says,” said Kansas assistant solicitor general Ethan Zipf-Sigler, who unsuccessfully fought to sustain the verdict against Beck.
Biles said the court record in the case was troubling because of assertions license plates in Kansas had to be clearly legible to a law enforcement officer located a safe distance from a targeted vehicle.
“I’m really struck by how arbitrary the enforcement aspect is,” Biles said. “I can’t help but think the state is adding words to a statute that we don’t get to do.”
Attorney Kasper Schirer, senior assistant appellate defender, argued on Beck’s behalf before the Supreme Court and said the traffic stop was unlawful from the outset.
“When no law has been violated, when no traffic law has been violated, the Fourth Amendment does not allow for suspicionless seizures,” he said.
