Quote:
Originally Posted by dilbert firestorm
COG
so you're saying the police do not have probable cause to question the "suspicious" individual under surveillance in this case?
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Utah vs. Strieff:
"One of those visitors was respondent Edward Strieff.
Officer Fackrell observed Strieff exit the house and walk
toward a nearby convenience store. In the store’s parking
lot, Officer Fackrell detained Strieff, identified himself,
and asked Strieff what he was doing at the residence.
As part of the stop, Officer Fackrell requested Strieff ’s
identification, and Strieff produced his Utah identification
card. Officer Fackrell relayed Strieff ’s information to a
police dispatcher, who reported that Strieff had an outstanding
arrest warrant for a traffic violation. Officer
Fackrell then arrested Strieff pursuant to that warrant.
When Officer Fackrell searched Strieff incident to the
arrest, he discovered a baggie of methamphetamine and
drug paraphernalia."
Terry vs. Ohio:
"This case presents serious questions concerning the role of the Fourth Amendment in the
confrontation on the street between the citizen and the policeman investigating suspicious circumstances."
"......Officer McFadden testified that, while he was patrolling in plain clothes in downtown Cleveland at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon of October 31, 1963, his attention was attracted by two men, Chilton and Terry, standing on the corner of Huron Road and Euclid Avenue. He had never seen the two men before, and he was unable to say precisely what first drew his eye to them. However, he testified that he had been a policeman for 39 years and a detective for 35, and that he had been assigned to patrol this vicinity of downtown Cleveland for shoplifters and pickpockets for 30 years. He explained that he had developed routine habits of observation over the years, and that he would "stand and watch people or walk and watch people at many intervals of the day." He added: "Now, in this case, when I looked over, they didn't look right to me at the time.""
"His interest aroused, Officer McFadden took up a post of observation in the entrance to a store 300 to 400 feet [p6] away from the two men. "I get more purpose to watch them when I seen their movements," he testified. He saw one of the men leave the other one and walk southwest on Huron Road, past some stores. The man paused for a moment and looked in a store window, then walked on a short distance, turned around and walked back toward the corner, pausing once again to look in the same store window. He rejoined his companion at the corner, and the two conferred briefly. Then the second man went through the same series of motions, strolling down Huron Road, looking in the same window, walking on a short distance, turning back, peering in the store window again, and returning to confer with the first man at the corner. The two men repeated this ritual alternately between five and six times apiece -- in all, roughly a dozen trips. At one point, while the two were standing together on the corner, a third man approached them and engaged them briefly in conversation. This man then left the two others and walked west on Euclid Avenue. Chilton and Terry resumed their measured pacing, peering, and conferring. After this had gone on for 10 to 12 minutes, the two men walked off together, heading west on Euclid Avenue, following the path taken earlier by the third man.
By this time, Officer McFadden had become thoroughly suspicious. He testified that, after observing their elaborately casual and oft-repeated reconnaissance of the store window on Huron Road, he suspected the two men of "casing a job, a stick-up," and that he considered it his duty as a police officer to investigate further. He added that he feared "they may have a gun." Thus, Officer McFadden followed Chilton and Terry and saw them stop in front of Zucker's store to talk to the same man who had conferred with them earlier on the street corner. Deciding that the situation was ripe for direct action, Officer McFadden approached the three men, identified [p7] himself as a police officer and asked for their names. At this point, his knowledge was confined to what he had observed."
"He was not acquainted with any of the three men by name or by sight, and he had received no information concerning them from any other source. When the men "mumbled something" in response to his inquiries, Officer McFadden grabbed petitioner Terry, spun him around so that they were facing the other two, with Terry between McFadden and the others, and patted down the outside of his clothing. In the left breast pocket of Terry's overcoat, Officer McFadden felt a pistol. He reached inside the overcoat pocket, but was unable to remove the gun."
