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On the issue of consent, the trial court noted that Allen asked Knight-Walker to get out of
the car and asked, “do you mind if I pat you down? [W]hat did she do? She turned around and
put her hands on top of the car.” The trial court explained that it thought “the Court expects
people who are stopped to understand what it is that they have to do or don’t have to do, and to
tell officers what it is that they agree or don’t agree to” and “in this case there was nothing that I
saw that would indicate that [Knight-Walker] was saying, oh, no, we’re not doing anything of
this.” Knight-Walker now appeals.
II. ANALYSIS
Knight-Walker assigns error to the trial court’s denial of her motion to suppress, asserting
that the trial court erred because: (1) Allen impermissibly exceeded the bounds of the traffic
mission for which he had stopped Ms. Knight-Walker’s vehicle; and (2) Ms. Knight-Walker did
not provide free and voluntary consent to search her vehicle beyond mere acquiescence to the
search.
In determining whether to affirm the denial of a suppression motion, an appellate court
gives deference to the trial court’s factual findings but independently determines the lawfulness
of the manner in which the evidence was obtained. See Jones v. Commonwealth, 277 Va. 171,
177 (2009). “Ultimate questions of reasonable suspicion and probable cause . . . involve
questions of both law and fact and are reviewed de novo on appeal.” McGee v. Commonwealth,
25 Va. App. 193, 198 (1997) (en banc) (quoting Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 691
(1996)). Similarly, the trial court’s decision whether the Fourth Amendment was implicated at
all requires this Court to review de novo “whether the officers unlawfully infringed upon an area
protected by the Fourth Amendment.” Hughes v. Commonwealth, 31 Va. App. 447, 454 (2000)
(en banc) (citing McGee, 25 Va. App. at 198). “Whether the Fourth Amendment has been Jump to an indexed page (23 of 23)