Criminal Procedure Outline - Professor Fields 2021 - Campbell Law - Part 6
Criminal Procedure Outline - Professor Fields 2021 - Campbell Law - Part 6
By Miller Moreau
Professor Fields - 2021
Download the PDF version of this outline
iii. Drawing the Lines – Terry Stop v. De Facto Arrests
- Dunaway v. NY (1979) (pizza parlor proprietor killed-jail inmate supplied lead. Not enough for warrant but still picked him up, wasn’t told he was under arrest but would’ve been restrained, questioned in interrogation room): Reasonable suspicion is limited to Terry Stops and is not an applicable basis for police to compel a custodial interrogation of an individual
- De facto arrest need probable cause
- Probable cause required to compel custodial interrogation
- This is a de facto arrest
- White concurrence: 4th am is about reasonableness, not warrants, and therefore balancing test is key. But must be categorical, not case-by-case
- Rehnquist dissent – this is all about consent: Dunaway went on his own free will
- Question turns on whether the officer’s conduct is objectively coercive or physically threatening, not on the mere fact that a person might in some measure feel cowed by the fact that a request is made by a police officer
- Florida v. Royer (1983) (one-way ticket under assumed name, fit “drug-courier” profile): After the police officers requested Royer to accompany them to a police room, Royer followed them, and the police announced their suspicion, the stop exceeded the permissible scope of Terry
- Everything was consensual? But a person is effectively seized when a “reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave”→
- Simple Terry Stop? Maybe at first, but under Terry, “the investigative methods employed should be the least intrusive means reasonably available to verify or dispel the officer’s suspicion in a short period of time”→
- Then there’s probable cause for the arrest? Not at the time he consented to the search of his luggage
- Terry Stops: reasonable suspicion that a person has committed or is about to commit a crime
- Scope of Terry Stops: Investigative methods employed should be the least intrusive means reasonable available to verify or dispel the officer’s suspicion in a short period of time
- Limitation applies to length and intrusiveness of the stop – both limited to time and extent necessary to verify or dispel officer’s suspicion
- Illinois v. Caballes: Did the calling in the dog unlawfully extend the scope of the Terry stop into a seizure? “An investigative technique, even when directed toward criminality not reasonable suspected, does not violate that limitation unless the particular tactic itself infringed the detainee’s constitutionally protected interest in privacy
- Limitation applies to length and intrusiveness of the stop – both limited to time and extent necessary to verify or dispel officer’s suspicion
- Scope of Terry Stops: Investigative methods employed should be the least intrusive means reasonable available to verify or dispel the officer’s suspicion in a short period of time
iv. Summary
- Stop and frisk:
- RS
- Lesser standard than prob cause
- Objective standard from perspective of police officer
- Innocent conduct may add up to reas suspicion
- Anonymous tip + indicia of reliability
- Preference against bright line rules
- Limited in scope to weapons, not evidence
- Terry stops
- Stop requires reas suspicion that a crime occurred or that crim activity is afoot
- Search still limited to weapons
- Limitations: scope and duration – scope limited to nature of the investigation and duration limited to the amount of time necessary to dispel/confirm suspicion
- Terry stops to a de facto arrest: When terry stops exceed their permissible scope/duration, they become de facto arrests requiring prob cause
- RS
v. Drawing the Lines – Terry Stop v. Non-seizure (consent-based) Encounters
- US v. Mendenhall (1980) (fake name on ticket, in Cali for only 2 days, asked her to come to DEA office, asked if they could search and consented, found heroin)
- Plurality opinion (if there’s a question on this, need to argue whether consent, reasonable suspicion, or de facto arrest—appropriately)
- Mendenhall was not seized for 4th am purposes when police officers initially stopped her in the concourse because:
- A reasonable person in her situation would have believed she was free to leave; or
- Police had reasonable suspicion to stop her
- No, she was not seized when she went to DEA Office because under totality of circumstances, her consent was voluntarily given
- Stewart and Rehnquist say consent based
- Have to allow for the police to approach people on the street
- To allow that, conclude that “a person has been seized only if, in view of all of the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would have believed he was not free to leave
- Some objective factors:
- Threatening presence of several officers
- Display of a weapon by an officer
- Some physical touching of the person
- Use of language or tone of voice indicating that compliance was compelled
- But what about her age, education, etc.
- Powell, Burger, Blackmun:
- Seizure did happen here, it wasn’t consensual
- Based on reasonable suspicion (her conduct)
- Dissent – White, Brennan, Marshall, and Stevens: Clearly a de facto arrest like in Dunaway
- Florida v. Bostick (1980) (boarded bus w/o rs and asked passengers to search their luggage): Police encounter on a bus of the type involved here does not constitute a seizure because a reasonable person in respondent’s position would have felt free to decline the officer’s request or otherwise terminate the encounter, the entire encounter was consensual
- There can’t be a per se rule that these types of encounters are always seizures
- Test: whether, taking into all the circumstances surrounding the encounter, the police encounter would have communicated to a reasonable person that he was not at liberty to ignore the police presence and go about his business (reasonable person test)
- US v. Drayton (2000) (boarded bus, didn’t block aisle, asked to search bag, asked to pat down, found cocaine): Law enforcement action on the bus did not amount to a stop or seizure triggering either Terry or 4th am protections because a reasonable person in def’s situation would have felt free to decline the officers’ requests or otherwise terminate the encounter
- Significance of Bostick: Buses are different and no per se rules allowed (person is seized dependent on “whether a reasonable person would feel free to decline the officers’ requests or otherwise terminate the encounter)
- Bostick Rule: Totality of the circumstances – look to nature of the encounter
- When officer did not remove the gun or use it in a threatening way
- When officer advised passengers of their right to not cooperate and to refuse
- Police did not seize folks when they boarded
- Police left aisle free
- Spoke to passengers one-on-one in nice voice
- Police said people have refused to cooperate before
- Summary: Terry Stops v. Non-Seizure Encounters
- Police can stop and approach someone w/no suspicion so long as a reasonable person in the situation would feel free to refuse and terminate the encounter
- Extremely objective based – look at behavior of the police officers and ask whether based on the totality of the circumstance the police showed coercion or threatened force
- If a reasonable person would not feel free to terminate the encounter, then you need reasonable suspicion or PC
- Brendlin v. California (2007) (traffic stop, conceded to be illegal for lack of rs. Defendant was passenger, found outstanding arrest warrant—arrested, drugs found on his person): A passenger of a vehicle may be seized by law enforcement as part of a traffic stop if a reasonable person in his situation would not feel free to decline the officers’ requests or otherwise terminate the encounter
- This is just Mendenhall and Bostick
- Mendenhall: seizure occurs if in view of all of the circumstances surrounding an incident, a reasonable person would have believed that they were not free to leave
- A passenger is restrained just as much as driver
- Maryland v. Wilson: in a traffic stop, police may order a passenger out of the car absent reasonable suspicion based on safety
- Reversed
- This is just Mendenhall and Bostick
- Rodriguez v. US (2015) (K-9 officer pulled over and used dog w/o consent): Police may not extend a traffic stop to conduct a drug sniff absent reasonable suspicion to do so
- Police can stop vehicles when they have reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation
- Traffic stop is still considered a seizure under the 4th am, just viewed through the spectrum of a Terry Stop
- Consequently, limited in scope to the “seizure’s mission” (to address the traffic violation that warranted the stop, and attend to related safety concerns)
- Authority for the seizure ends when tasks tied to the traffic infraction are—or reasonably should have been—completed
- Critical question is whether conducting the sniff prolongs the stop
- Limits Caballes, can bring the drug dog even if no reasonable suspicion of drug use, but may not do so in a way that prolongs the stop, absent the reasonable suspicion ordinarily demanded to justify detaining the individual
- California v. Long (drunk, pulled over, saw hunting knife, searched passenger compartment, saw bag, found weed): Search of the passenger compartment of an automobile, limited to areas where weapon, permissible if rs
- Summary: Terry Stops v. Non-Seizure Encounters
- Police can stop and approach someone with no suspicion so long as a reasonable person in the situation would feel free to refuse and terminate the encounter
- Extremely objective based: look at behavior of the police officers and ask whether based on the totaliity of the circumstances the police showed coercion or threatened force
- If a reasonable person would not feel free to terminate the encounter, then you need reasonable suspicion or probable cause
- Extends to passengers in vehicles
- And can’t prolong a traffic stop to wait for a drug dog
Related Topics
- Criminal Defense
- DUI/DWI
- Drug Crimes
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