On July 24, 2019, at around 11:10 p.m., San Francisco P.D. Officers Griffin and Ishida made a lawful traffic stop on defendant’s vehicle for driving in a lane reserved for buses and taxis, a violation of (what the Court referred to as) the “California Traffic Code § 7.2.72.”  (Never heard of the “California Traffic Code.”  This looks more like a local municipal or county code.  But the legality of the traffic stop was not in issue.) As defendant fished around looking for his driver’s license and registration, Officer Griffin observed in plain sight a closed, clear plastic, capped off, tube, about the size of a prescription pill bottle, containing what appeared to be marijuana.  Defendant freely showed it to Officer Griffin after the officer commented on it.  Believing that the presence of a container of marijuana—with a removable cap—provided the necessary probable cause to conduct a search of the entire vehicle for more, the officers had defendant step out of his car so that they could search it.  The search resulted in the recovery of a firearm wedged between the driver’s seat and the center console, along with some ammunition.  Arrested on the spot, defendant was first charged in state court where a preliminary hearing was held. However, a federal grand jury then indicted defendant on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, per 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) (the state case presumably being dismissed).  Defendant filed a motion to suppress everything recovered from his vehicle, alleging that because he had not more than 28.5 grams of marijuana in a closed plastic container, he did not violate any California laws and that the search was therefore illegal.