## Facts

- A Reno police officer observed Rico Shountes Bayard commit two minor moving violations: an improper left turn into the outside lane and an abrupt lane change.
- The officer also saw a pedestrian wave at Bayard’s vehicle and then try to avoid being seen when noticing the patrol car.
- After the traffic stop, a front-seat passenger was allowed to leave.
- Bayard produced identification, asked why he was stopped, and complied with the officer’s request that he exit the vehicle.
- Bayard voluntarily disclosed he had a gun in his waistband, produced a valid concealed-weapons permit, and consented to a search of his person; the search yielded $116 in cash.
- The officer arrested Bayard for the traffic violations and transported him for booking.
- During a booking strip search, cocaine and marijuana fell to the floor when Bayard removed his underwear.
- Bayard was charged with trafficking in cocaine and possession of marijuana and cocaine for the purpose of sale.
- Bayard moved to suppress the drugs, arguing the arrest violated Nevada’s cite-and-release statute (NRS 171.1771); the district court granted suppression, and the State appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether NRS 171.1771 required the officer to issue a citation and release Bayard, rather than make a custodial arrest for minor traffic violations committed in the officer’s presence.
2. Whether any violation of NRS 171.1771 required suppression of drugs discovered during the booking strip search.

## Decision

- The Nevada Supreme Court reversed the suppression order and remanded.
- The court held that NRS 171.1771 did not eliminate an officer’s authority to make a custodial arrest for minor traffic violations when supported by probable cause.
- The court further held that, even if NRS 171.1771 were violated, suppression was not an available remedy absent a constitutional violation.

## Legal Principles

- Statutory cite-and-release procedures generally regulate citation and release practices but do not, without clear legislative direction, withdraw otherwise lawful arrest authority based on probable cause.
- The Fourth Amendment permits a custodial arrest for even a very minor offense committed in an officer’s presence when supported by probable cause.
- The exclusionary rule is primarily a remedy for constitutional violations; courts will not infer suppression for a purely statutory violation when the statute does not provide for exclusion and there is no constitutional infringement.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that a custodial arrest for observed minor traffic violations was constitutionally permissible and not barred by the cite-and-release statute, and that suppression of drugs found during booking was improper where the claimed defect was, at most, a statutory violation without a corresponding constitutional violation.


State v. Bayard, 71 P.3d 498 (Nev. 2003)