Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/392/40/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 16:00:04+00:00

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he saw two strangers (appellant Peters and another) tiptoeing furtively about the hallway. He called the police, dressed, and armed himself with his service revolver. He observed the two still engaged in suspicious maneuvers and, believing that they were attempting a burglary, the officer pursued them, catching Peters by the collar in the apartment hallway. Peters said that he had been visiting a girlfriend, whom he declined to identify. The officer patted Peters down for weapons, and discovered a hard object which he thought might be a knife but which turned out to be a container with burglar's tools, for the possession of which Peters was later charged. The trial court denied Peters' motion to suppress that evidence, refusing to credit Peters' testimony that he had been visiting a girlfriend and finding that the officer had the requisite "reasonable suspicion" under § 180-a to stop and question Peters and to "frisk" him for a dangerous weapon in the apartment hallway, which the court found was a "public place," within the meaning of the statute. Peters then pleaded guilty, preserving his right to appeal the rejection of his motion to suppress. The intermediate appellate court affirmed, as did the New York Court of Appeals, which held the search justified under § 180-a. The parties on both sides contend that the principal issue in both cases is the constitutionality of § 180-a "on its face."
1. Sibron's completion of service of his sentence does not moot his appeal. Pp. 392 U. S. 50-58.
(a) A State may not effectively deny a convict access to its appellate courts until his release and then argue that his case has been mooted by his failure to do what it has prevented him from doing. P. 392 U. S. 52.
(b) Even though Sibron was a multiple offender, he "had a substantial stake in the judgment of conviction which survives the satisfaction of the sentence imposed on him." Fiswick v. United States, 329 U. S. 211 (1946), followed; St. Pierre v. United States, 319 U. S. 41 (1943), qualified. Pp. 392 U. S. 55-58.
2. A confession of error, though entitled to great weight, does not relieve this Court from making its own examination of the record of a case where a conviction has been erroneously obtained, particularly where a judgment of the State's highest court interpreting a state statute is challenged on constitutional grounds and the confession of error has been made by a local official, rather than by an official authorized to speak for the State as a whole. Pp. 392 U. S. 58-59.
3. Since the question in this Court is not whether the search (or seizure) was authorized by § 180-a, but whether it was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, the Court does not pass upon the facial constitutionality of the statute. Pp. 392 U. S. 59-62.
4. In No. 63, the heroin was illegally seized, and therefore inadmissible in evidence. Pp. 392 U. S. 62-66.
(a) The search of Sibron cannot be justified as incident to a lawful arrest, since no probable cause existed before the search. Pp. 392 U. S. 62-63.
(b) There were no adequate grounds for the officer to search Sibron for weapons, since the officer had no reason to believe that Sibron was armed and dangerous, and even if there arguably had been such a justification, there was no initial limited exploration for arms before the officer thrust his hand into Sibron's pocket. Terry v. Ohio, ante, p. 392 U. S. 1, distinguished. Pp. 392 U. S. 63-65.
5. In No. 74, the search was reasonable, and the evidence seized was admissible. Pp. 392 U. S. 66-67.
(a) The search of Peters was incident to a lawful arrest under the Fourth Amendment. Pp. 392 U. S. 66-67.
(b) The "arrest" of Peters had taken place before the search, and, after the arrest, the officer had authority to search Peters. P. 392 U. S. 67.
(c) The incident search, which was limited in scope, was justified by the need to seize weapons as well as the need to prevent destruction of evidence of the crime. P. 392 U. S. 67.
No. 63, 18 N.Y.2d 603, 219 N.E.2d 196, reversed; No. 74, 18 N.Y.2d 238, 219 N.E.2d 595, affirmed.
MR CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN delivered the opinion of the Court.
"1. A police officer may stop any person abroad in a public place whom he reasonably suspects is committing, has committed or is about to commit a felony or any of the offenses specified in section five hundred fifty-two of this chapter, and may demand of him his name, address and an explanation of his actions."
suspects that he is in danger of life or limb, he may search such person for a dangerous weapon. If the police officer finds such a weapon or any other thing the possession of which may constitute a crime, he may take and keep it until the completion of the questioning, at which time he shall either return it, if lawfully possessed, or arrest such person."
The appellants, Sibron and Peters, were both convicted of crimes in New York state courts on the basis of evidence seized from their persons by police officers. The Court of Appeals of New York held that the evidence was properly admitted, on the ground that the searches which uncovered it were authorized by the statute. People v. Sibron, 18 N.Y.2d 603, 219 N.E.2d 196, 272 N.Y.S.2d 374 (1966) (memorandum); People v. Peters, 18 N.Y.2d 238, 219 N.E.2d 595, 273 N.Y.S.2d 217 (1966). Sibron and Peters have appealed their convictions to this Court, claiming that § 180-a is unconstitutional on its face and as construed and applied, because the searches and seizures which it was held to have authorized violated their rights under the Fourth Amendment, made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U. S. 643 (1961). We noted probable jurisdiction, 386 U. S. 954 (1967); 386 U.S. 980 (1967), and consolidated the two cases for argument with No. 67.
the heroin seized from his person by the arresting officer, Brooklyn Patrolman Anthony Martin. After the trial court denied his motion, Sibron pleaded guilty to the charge, preserving his right to appeal the evidentiary ruling. [Footnote 2] At the hearing on the motion to suppress, Officer Martin testified that, while he was patrolling his beat in uniform on March 9, 1965, he observed Sibron "continually from the hours of 4:00 P. M. to 12:00, midnight . . . in the vicinity of 742 Broadway." He stated that, during this period of time, he saw Sibron in conversation with six or eight persons whom he (Patrolman Martin) knew from past experience to be narcotics addicts. The officer testified that he did not overhear any of these conversations, and that he did not see anything pass between Sibron and any of the others. Late in the evening, Sibron entered a restaurant. Patrolman Martin saw Sibron speak with three more known addicts inside the restaurant. Once again, nothing was overheard and nothing was seen to pass between Sibron and the addicts. Sibron sat down and ordered pie and coffee, and, as he was eating, Patrolman Martin approached him and told him to come outside. Once outside, the officer said to Sibron, "You know what I am after." According to the officer, Sibron "mumbled something and reached into his pocket." Simultaneously, Patrolman Martin thrust his hand into the same pocket, discovering several glassine envelopes, which, it turned out, contained heroin.
"As the officer approached the defendant, the latter being in the direction of the officer and seeing him, he did put his hand in his left jacket pocket and pulled out a tinfoil envelope and did attempt to throw same to the ground. The officer, never losing sight of the said envelope, seized it from the def[endan]t's left hand, examined it, and found it to contain ten glascine [sic] envelopes with a white substance alleged to be Heroin."
"All he knows about the unknown men: they are narcotics addicts. They might have been talking about the World Series. They might have been talking about prize fights."
The prosecutor, however, reminded the judge that Sibron had admitted on the stand, in Patrolman Martin's absence, that he had been talking to the addicts about narcotics. Thereupon, the trial judge changed his mind and ruled that the officer had probable cause for an arrest.
to the Jurisdictional Statement in this Court, the State sought to justify the search on the basis of the statute. After we noted probable jurisdiction, the District Attorney for Kings County confessed error.
Officer Lasky opened his door, entered the hallway and slammed the door loudly behind him. This precipitated a flight down the stairs on the part of the two men, [Footnote 7] and Officer Lasky gave chase. His apartment was located on the sixth floor, and he apprehended Peters between the fourth and fifth floors. Grabbing Peters by the collar, he continued down another flight in unsuccessful pursuit of the other man. Peters explained his presence in the building to Officer Lasky by saying that he was visiting a girlfriend. However, he declined to reveal the girlfriend's name, on the ground that she was a married woman. Officer Lasky patted Peters down for weapons, and discovered a hard object in his pocket. He stated at the hearing that the object did not feel like a gun, but that it might have been a knife. He removed the object from Peters' pocket. It was an opaque plastic envelope, containing burglar's tools.
the circumstances, Lasky's action in frisking Peters for a dangerous weapon was reasonable, even though Lasky was himself armed." It held that the hallway of the apartment building was a "public place" within the meaning of the statute. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court affirmed without opinion. The Court of Appeals also affirmed, essentially adopting the reasoning of the trial judge, with Judges Fuld and Van Voorhis dissenting separately.
At the outset, we must deal with the question whether we have jurisdiction in No. 63. It is asserted that, because Sibron has completed service of the six-month sentence imposed upon him as a result of his conviction, the case has become moot under St. Pierre v. United States, 319 U. S. 41 (1943). [Footnote 8] We have concluded that the case is not moot.
In the first place, it is clear that the broad dictum with which the Court commenced its discussion in St. Pierre -- that "the case is moot because, after petitioner's service of his sentence and its expiration, there was no longer a subject matter on which the judgment of this Court could operate," (319 U.S. at 319 U. S. 42) -- fails to take account of significant qualifications recognized in St. Pierre and developed in later cases. Only a few days ago, we held unanimously that the writ of habeas corpus was available to test the constitutionality of a state conviction where the petitioner had been in custody when he applied for the writ, but had been released before this Court could adjudicate his claims. Carafas v. LaVallee, 391 U. S. 234 (1968). On numerous occasions in the past, this Court has proceeded to adjudicate the merits of criminal cases in which the sentence had been fully served or the probationary period during which a suspended sentence could be reimposed had terminated. Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U. S. 629 (1968); Pollard v. United States, 352 U. S. 354 (1957); United States v. Morgan, 346 U. S. 502 (1954); Fiswick v. United States, 329 U. S. 211 (1946). Thus, mere release of the prisoner does not mechanically foreclose consideration of the merits by this Court.
was a plain recognition of the vital importance of keeping open avenues of judicial review of deprivations of constitutional right. [Footnote 9] There was no way for Sibron to bring his case here before his six-month sentence expired. By statute, he was precluded from obtaining bail pending appeal, [Footnote 10] and, by virtue of the inevitable delays of the New York court system, he was released less than a month after his newly appointed appellate counsel had been supplied with a copy of the transcript, and roughly two months before it was physically possible to present his case to the first tier in the state appellate court system. [Footnote 11] This was true despite the fact that he took all steps to perfect his appeal in a prompt, diligent, and timely manner.
"Although the term has been served, the results of the conviction may persist. Subsequent convictions may carry heavier penalties; civil rights may be affected. As the power to remedy an invalid sentence exists, we think, respondent is entitled to an opportunity to attempt to show that this conviction was invalid."
Id. at 346 U. S. 512-513.
Three years later, in Pollard v. United States, 352 U. S. 354 (1957), the Court abandoned all inquiry into the actual existence of specific collateral consequences and, in effect, presumed that they existed. With nothing more than citations to Morgan and Fiswick and a statement that "convictions may entail collateral legal disadvantages in the future," id. at 352 U. S. 358, the Court concluded that "[t]he possibility of consequences collateral to the imposition of sentence is sufficiently substantial to justify our dealing with the merits." Ibid. The Court thus acknowledged the obvious fact of life that most criminal convictions do, in fact, entail adverse collateral legal consequences. [Footnote 15] The mere "possibility" that this will be the case is enough to preserve a criminal case from ending "ignominiously in the limbo of mootness." Parker v. Ellis, 362 U. S. 574, 362 U. S. 577 (1960) (dissenting opinion).
None of the concededly imperative policies behind the constitutional rule against entertaining moot controversies would be served by a dismissal in this case. There is nothing abstract, feigned, or hypothetical about Sibron's appeal. Nor is there any suggestion that either Sibron or the State has been wanting in diligence or fervor in the litigation. We have before us a fully developed record of testimony about contested historical facts, which reflects the "impact of actuality" [Footnote 19] to a far greater degree than many controversies accepted for adjudication as a matter of course under the Federal Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201.
the case here. Sibron "has a substantial stake in the judgment of conviction which survives the satisfaction of the sentence imposed on him." Fiswick v. United States, supra, at 329 U. S. 222. The case is not moot.
rights. For us to accept his view blindly in the circumstances, when a majority of the Court of Appeals of New York has expressed the contrary view, would be a disservice to the State of New York and an abdication of our obligation to lower courts to decide cases upon proper constitutional grounds in a manner which permits them to conform their future behavior to the demands of the Constitution. We turn to the merits.
embody the safeguards demanded by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.
"is not whether the search [or seizure] was authorized by state law. The question is, rather, whether the search was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Just as a search authorized by State law may be an unreasonable one under that amendment, so may a search not expressly authorized by state law be justified as a constitutionally reasonable one."
Cooper v. California, 386 U. S. 58, 386 U. S. 61 (1967).
with respect to a statute of this peculiar sort, as the Court of Appeals of New York recognized, is "not so much . . . the language employed as . . . the conduct it authorizes." People v. Peters, 18 N.Y.2d 238, 245, 219 N.E.2d 595, 599, 273 N.Y.S.2d 217, 222 (1966). We have held today in Terry v. Ohio, ante, p. 392 U. S. 1, that police conduct of the sort with which § 180-a deals must be judged under the Reasonable Search and Seizure Clause of the Fourth Amendment. The inquiry under that clause may differ sharply from the inquiry set up by the categories of § 180-a. Our constitutional inquiry would not be furthered here by an attempt to pronounce judgment on the words of the statute. We must confine our review instead to the reasonableness of the searches and seizures which underlie these two convictions.
until after the search had turned up the envelopes of heroin. It is axiomatic that an incident search may not precede an arrest and serve as part of its justification. E.g., Henry v. United States, 361 U. S. 98 (1959); Johnson v. United States, 333 U. S. 10, 333 U. S. 16-17 (1948). Thus, the search cannot be justified as incident to a lawful arrest.
If Patrolman Martin lacked probable cause for an arrest, however, his seizure and search of Sibron might still have been justified at the outset if he had reasonable grounds to believe that Sibron was armed and dangerous. Terry v. Ohio, ante, p. 392 U. S. 1. We are not called upon to decide in this case whether there was a "seizure" of Sibron inside the restaurant antecedent to the physical seizure which accompanied the search. The record is unclear with respect to what transpired between Sibron and the officer inside the restaurant. It is totally barren of any indication whether Sibron accompanied Patrolman Martin outside in submission to a show of force or authority which left him no choice, or whether he went voluntarily in a spirit of apparent cooperation with the officer's investigation. In any event, this deficiency in the record is immaterial, since Patrolman Martin obtained no new information in the interval between his initiation of the encounter in the restaurant and his physical seizure and search of Sibron outside.
bullet; in any case, the exposure to danger could be very great."
Amendment, which protects the sanctity of the person against unreasonable intrusions on the part of all government agents.
to be considered in the decision to make an arrest. Brinegar v. United States, 338 U. S. 160 (1949); Husty v. United States, 282 U. S. 694 (1931), see Henry v. United States, 361 U. S. 98, 361 U. S. 103 (1959).
"by the need to seize weapons and other things which might be used to assault an officer or effect an escape, as well as by the need to prevent the destruction of evidence of the crime."
Preston v. United States, 376 U. S. 364, 376 U. S. 367 (1964). Moreover, it was reasonably limited in scope by these purposes. Officer Lasky did not engage in an unrestrained and thoroughgoing examination of Peters and his personal effects. He seized him to cut short his flight, and he searched him primarily for weapons. While patting down his outer clothing, Officer Lasky discovered an object in his pocket which might have been used as a weapon. He seized it and discovered it to be a potential instrument of the crime of burglary.
No. 63, however, must be reversed, on the ground that the heroin was unconstitutionally admitted in evidence against the appellant.
* Together with No. 74, Peters v. New York, argued on December 12, 1967, also on appeal from the same court.
N.Y.Pub.Health Law § 3305 makes the unauthorized possession of any narcotic drug unlawful, and §§ 1751 and 1751-a of the N.Y.Penal Law of 1909, then in effect, made the grade of the offense depend upon the amount of the drugs found in the possession of the defendant. The complaint in this case originally charged a felony, but the trial court granted the prosecutor's motion to reduce the charge on the ground that "the Laboratory report will indicate a misdemeanor charge." Sibron was convicted of a misdemeanor and sentenced to six months in jail.
"may be reviewed on appeal from a judgment of conviction notwithstanding the fact that such judgment of conviction is predicated upon a plea of guilty."
"Q. Would you say at that time that he reached into his pocket and handed the packets to you? Is that what he did, or did he drop the packets?"
"A. He did not drop them. I do not know what his intentions were. He pushed his hand into his pocket."
"MR. JOSEPH [Prosecutor]: You intercepted it; didn't you, Officer?"
It is, of course, highly unlikely that Sibron, facing the officer at such close quarters, would have tried to remove the heroin from his pocket and throw it to the ground in the hope that he could escape responsibility for it.
The possibility that Sibron, who never, so far as appears from the record, offered any resistance, might have posed a danger to Patrolman Martin's safety was never even discussed as a potential justification for the search. The only mention of weapons by the officer in his entire testimony came in response to a leading question by Sibron's counsel, when Martin stated that he "thought he [Sibron] might have been" reaching for a gun. Even so, Patrolman Martin did not accept this suggestion by the opposition regarding the reason for his action; the discussion continued upon the plain premise that he had been looking for narcotics all the time.
N.Y.Pen.Law of 1909, § 408, made the possession of such tools under such circumstances a misdemeanor for first offenders and a felony for all those who have "been previously convicted of any crime." Peters was convicted of a felony under this section.
Officer Lasky testified that, when he called the police immediately before leaving his apartment, he "told the Sergeant at the desk that two burglars were on my floor."
"We think the testimony at the hearing does not require further laboring of this aspect of the matter, unless one is to believe that it is legitimately normal for a man to tip-toe about in the public hall of an apartment house while on a visit to his unidentified girlfriend, and, when observed by another tenant, to rapidly descend by stairway in the presence of elevators."
The first suggestion of mootness in this case came upon oral argument, when it was revealed for the first time that appellant had been released. This fact did not appear in the record, despite the fact that the release occurred well over two years before the case was argued here. Nor was mootness hinted at by the State in its Brief in Opposition to the Jurisdictional Statement in this Court -- where it took the position that the decision below was so clearly right that it did not merit further review -- or in its brief on the merits -- in which it conceded that the decision below clearly violated Sibron's constitutional rights and urged that it was an aberrant interpretation which should not impair the constitutionality of the New York statute. Following the suggestion of mootness on oral argument, moreover, the State filed a brief in which it amplified its views as to why the case should be held moot, but added the extraordinary suggestion that this Court should ignore the problem and pronounce upon the constitutionality of a statute in a case which has become moot. Normally in these circumstances we would consider ourselves fully justified in foreclosing a party upon an issue; however, since the question goes to the very existence of a controversy for us to adjudicate, we have undertaken to review it.
"[C]onventional notions of finality in criminal litigation cannot be permitted to defeat the manifest federal policy that federal constitutional rights of personal liberty shall not be denied without the fullest opportunity for plenary federal judicial review."
Sibron was arrested on March 9, 1965, and was unable to make bail before trial because of his indigency. He thus remained in jail from that time until the expiration of his sentence (with good time credit) on July 10, 1965. He was convicted on April 23. His application for leave to proceed in forma pauperis was not granted until May 14, and his assigned appellate counsel was not provided with a transcript until June 11. The Appellate Term of the Supreme Court recessed on June 7 until September. Thus, Sibron was released well before there had been any opportunity even to argue his case in the intermediate state appellate court. A decision by the Court of Appeals of New York was not had until July 10, 1966, the anniversary of Sibron's release.
Cf., e.g., Thompson v. City of Louisville, 362 U. S. 199 (1960).
In St. Pierre, the Court noted that the petitioner could have taken steps to preserve his case, but that "he did not apply to this Court for a stay or a supersedeas." 319 U.S. at 319 U. S. 43. Here however, it is abundantly clear that there is no procedure of which Sibron could have availed himself to prevent the expiration of his sentence long before this Court could hear his case. A supersedeas from this Court is a purely ancillary writ, and may issue only in connection with an appeal actually taken. Ex parte Ralston, 119 U. S. 613 (1887); Sup.Ct.Rule 18; see R. Robertson & F. Kirkham, Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the United States § 435, at 883 (R. Wolfson & P. Kurland ed., 1951). At the time Sibron completed service of his sentence, the only judgment outstanding was the conviction itself, rendered by the Criminal Court of the City of New York, County of Kings. This Court had no jurisdiction to hear an appeal from that judgment, since it was not rendered by the "highest court of a State in which a decision could be had," 28 U.S.C. § 1257, and there could be no warrant for interference with the orderly appellate processes of the state courts. Thus, no supersedeas could have issued. Nor could this Court have ordered Sibron admitted to bail before the expiration of his sentence, since the offense was not bailable, 18 U.S.C. § 3144; see n 10, supra. Thus, this case is distinguishable from St. Pierre in that Sibron "could not have brought his case to this Court for review before the expiration of his sentence." 319 U.S. at 319 U. S. 43.
Compare Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U. S. 629, 390 U. S. 633, n. 2 (1968), where this Court held that the mere possibility that the Commissioner of Buildings of the Town of Hempstead, New York, might "in his discretion" attempt in the future to revoke a license to run a luncheonette because of a single conviction for selling relatively inoffensive "girlie" magazines to a 16-year-old boy was sufficient to preserve a criminal case from mootness.
We do not know from the record how many convictions Sibron had, for what crimes, or when they were rendered. At the hearing, he admitted to a 1955 conviction for burglary and a 1957 misdemeanor conviction for possession of narcotics. He also admitted that he had other convictions, but none were specifically alluded to.
We note that there is a clear distinction between a general impairment of credibility, to which the Court referred in St. Pierre, see 319 U.S. at 319 U. S. 43, and New York's specific statutory authorization for use of the conviction to impeach the "character" of a defendant in a criminal proceeding. The latter is a clear legal disability deliberately and specifically imposed by the legislature.
This factor has clearly been considered relevant by the Court in the past in determining the issue of mootness. See Fiswick v. United States, 329 U. S. 211, 329 U. S. 221-222 (1946).
Frankfurter, A Note on Advisory Opinions, 37 Harv.L.Rev. 1002, 1006 (1924). See also Parker v. Ellis, 362 U. S. 574, 362 U. S. 592-593 (1960) (dissenting opinion).
It is not apparent, for example, whether the power to "stop" granted by the statute entails a power to "detain" for investigation or interrogation upon less than probable cause, or, if so, what sort of durational limitations upon such detention are contemplated. And while the statute's apparent grant of a power of compulsion indicates that many "stops" will constitute "seizures," it is not clear that all conduct analyzed under the rubric of the statute will either rise to the level of a "seizure" or be based upon less than probable cause. In No. 74, the Peters case, for example, the New York courts justified the seizure of appellant under § 180-a, but we have concluded that there was, in fact, probable cause for an arrest when Officer Lasky seized Peters on the stairway. See infra at 392 U. S. 66. In any event, a pronouncement by this Court upon the abstract validity of § 180-a's "stop" category would be most inappropriate in these cases, since we have concluded that neither of them presents the question of the validity of a seizure of the person for purposes of interrogation upon less than probable cause.
The statute's other categories are equally elastic, and it was passed too recently for the State's highest court to have ruled upon many of the questions involving potential intersections with federal constitutional guarantees. We cannot tell, for example, whether the officer's power to "demand" of a person an "explanation of his actions" contemplates either an obligation on the part of the citizen to answer or some additional power on the part of the officer in the event of a refusal to answer, or even whether the interrogation following the "stop" is "custodial." Compare Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 (1966). There are, moreover, substantial indications that the statutory category of a "search for a dangerous weapon" may encompass conduct considerably broader in scope than that which we approved in Terry v. Ohio, ante, p. 392 U. S. 1. See infra at 392 U. S. 65-66. See also People v. Taggart, 20 N.Y.2d 335, 229 N.E.2d 581, 283 N.Y.S.2d 1 (1967). At least some of the activity apparently permitted under the rubric of searching for dangerous weapons may thus be permissible under the Constitution only if the "reasonable suspicion" of criminal activity rises to the level of probable cause. Finally, it is impossible to tell whether the standard of "reasonable suspicion" connotes the same sort of specificity, reliability, and objectivity which is the touchstone of permissible governmental action under the Fourth Amendment. Compare Terry v. Ohio, supra, with People v. Taggart, supra. In this connection, we note that the searches and seizures in both Sibron and Peters were upheld by the Court of Appeals of New York as predicated upon "reasonable suspicion," whereas we have concluded that the officer in Peters had probable cause for an arrest, while the policeman in Sibron was not possessed of any information which would justify an intrusion upon rights protected by the Fourth Amendment.
It is argued in dissent that this Court has in effect overturned factual findings by the two courts below that the search in this case was a self-protective measure on the part of Patrolman Martin, who thought that Sibron might have been reaching for a gun. It is true, as we have noted, that the Court of Appeals of New York apparently rested its approval of the search on this view. The trial court, however, made no such finding of fact. The trial judge adopted the theory of the prosecution at the hearing on the motion to suppress. This theory was that there was probable cause to arrest Sibron for some crime having to do with narcotics. The fact which tipped the scales for the trial court had nothing to do with danger to the policeman. The judge expressly changed his original view and held the heroin admissible upon being reminded that Sibron had admitted on the stand that he spoke to the addicts about narcotics. This admission was not relevant on the issue of probable cause, and we do not understand the dissent to take the position that, prior to the discovery of heroin, there was probable cause for an arrest.
Moreover, Patrolman Martin himself never at any time put forth the notion that he acted to protect himself. As we have noted, this subject never came up, until, on redirect examination, defense counsel raised the question whether Patrolman Martin thought Sibron was going for a gun. See n 4, supra. This was the only reference to weapons at any point in the hearing, and the subject was swiftly dropped. In the circumstances, an unarticulated "finding" by an appellate court which wrote no opinion, apparently to the effect that the officer's invasion of Sibron's person comported with the Constitution because of the need to protect himself, is not deserving of controlling deference.
Officer Martin testified that, on the night in question, he observed appellant Sibron continually from 4 p.m. to 12 midnight, and that, during that eight-hour period, Sibron conversed with different persons each personally known to Martin as narcotics addicts. When Sibron entered a restaurant, Martin followed him inside where he observed Sibron talking to three other persons also personally known to Martin as narcotics addicts. At that point, he approached Sibron and asked him to come outside. When Sibron stepped out, Martin said, "You know what I am after." Sibron then reached inside his pocket, and, at the same time, Martin reached into the same pocket and discovered several glassine envelopes which were found to contain heroin. Sibron was subsequently convicted of unlawful possession of heroin.
Consorting with criminals may in a particular factual setting be a basis for believing that a criminal project is underway. Yet talking with addicts, without more, rises no higher than suspicion. That is all we have here, and if it is sufficient for a "seizure" and a "search," then there is no such thing as privacy for this vast group of "sick" people.
Officer Lasky testified that he resided in a multiple-dwelling apartment house in Mount Vernon, New York. His apartment was on the sixth floor. At about 1 in the afternoon, he had just stepped out of the shower and was drying himself when he heard a noise at his door. Just then his phone rang and he answered the call.
After hanging up, he looked through the peephole of his door and saw two men, one of whom was appellant, tiptoeing out of an alcove toward the stairway. He phoned his headquarters to report this occurrence, and then put on some clothes and proceeded back to the door. This time he saw a tall man tiptoeing away from the alcove, followed by appellant, toward the stairway. Lasky came out of his apartment, slammed the door behind him, and then gave chase, gun in hand, as the two men began to run down the stairs. He apprehended appellant on the stairway between the fourth and fifth floors, and asked what he was doing in the building. Appellant replied that he was looking for a girlfriend, but refused to give her name, saying that she was a married woman. Lasky then "frisked" appellant for a weapon, and discovered in his right pants pocket a plastic envelope. The envelope contained a tension bar, 6 picks and 2 Allen wrenches with the short leg filed down to a screwdriver edge. Appellant was subsequently convicted for possession of burglary tools.
I would hold that, at the time Lasky seized appellant, he had probable cause to believe that appellant was on some kind of burglary or housebreaking mission.* In my view, he had probable cause to seize appellant, and accordingly to conduct a limited search of his person for weapons.
* See N.Y. Pen.Code §§ 140.20, 140.25 (1967).
opinion in Terry v. Ohio, ante, p. 392 U. S. 34. While patting down Peters' clothing, the officer "discovered an object in his pocket which might have been used as a weapon." Ante at 392 U. S. 67. That object turned out to be a package of burglar's tools. In my view, those tools were properly admitted into evidence.
of Terry. In doing so, it has, in at least one particular, made serious inroads upon the protection afforded by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.
The Court is, of course, entirely correct in concluding that we should not pass upon the constitutionality of the New York "stop and frisk" law "on its face." The statute is certainly not unconstitutional on its face -- that is, it does not plainly purport to authorize unconstitutional activities by policemen. Nor is it "constitutional on its face" if that expression means that any action now or later thought to fall within the terms of the statute is, ipso facto, within constitutional limits as well. No statute, state or federal, receives any such imprimatur from this Court.
The considerable confusion that has surrounded the "search" or "frisk" of Sibron that led to the actual recovery of the heroin seems to me irrelevant for our purposes. Officer Martin repudiated his first statement, which might conceivably have indicated a theory of "abandonment," see ante at 392 U. S. 45-46. No matter which of the other theories is adopted, it is clear that there was at least a forcible frisk, comparable to that which occurred in Terry, which requires constitutional justification.
Since carrying heroin is a crime in New York, probable cause to believe Sibron was carrying heroin would also have been probable cause to arrest him. As the Court says, Officer Martin clearly had neither. Although Sibron had had conversations with several known addicts, he had done nothing, during the several hours he was under surveillance, that made it "probable" that he was either carrying heroin himself or engaging in transactions with these acquaintances.
"where a police officer observes unusual conduct which leads him reasonably to conclude, in light of his experience, that criminal activity may be afoot. . . . "
Ante at 392 U. S. 30. The interpretation of the New York statute is, of course, a matter for the New York courts, but any particular stop must meet the Terry standard as well.
Furthermore, in Terry, the police officer judged that his suspect was about to commit a violent crime and that he had to assert himself in order to prevent it. Here there was no reason for Officer Martin to think that an incipient crime, or flight, or the destruction of evidence would occur if he stayed his hand; indeed, there was no more reason for him to intrude upon Sibron at the moment when he did than there had been four hours earlier, and no reason to think the situation would have changed four hours later. While no hard and fast rule can be drawn, I would suggest that one important factor, missing here, that should be taken into account in determining whether there are reasonable grounds for a forcible intrusion is whether there is any need for immediate action.
For these reasons, I would hold that Officer Martin lacked reasonable grounds to intrude forcibly upon Sibron. In consequence, the essential premise for the right to conduct a self-protective frisk was lacking. See my concurring opinion in Terry, ante, p. 392 U. S. 31. I therefore find it unnecessary to reach two further troublesome questions. First, although I think that, as in Terry, the right to frisk is automatic when an officer lawfully stops a person suspected of a crime whose nature creates a substantial likelihood that he is armed, it is not clear that suspected possession of narcotics falls into this category. If the nature of the suspected offense creates no reasonable apprehension for the officer's safety, I would not permit him to frisk unless other circumstances did so. Second, I agree with the Court that, even where a self-protective frisk is proper, its scope should be limited to what is adequate for its purposes. I see no need here to resolve the question whether this frisk exceeded those bounds.
the field" is necessarily limited, the influence of a decision here on hundreds of courts and magistrates who have to decide whether there is probable cause for a real arrest or a full search will be large.
Officer Lasky testified that, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, he heard a noise at the door to his apartment. He did not testify, nor did any state court conclude, that this "led him to believe that someone sought to force entry." Ante at 392 U. S. 66. He looked out into the public hallway and saw two men whom he did not recognize, surely not a strange occurrence in a large apartment building. One of them appeared to be tiptoeing. Lasky did not testify that the other man was tiptoeing or that either of them was behaving "furtively." Ibid. Lasky left his apartment and ran to them, gun in hand. He did not testify that there was any "flight," ante at 392 U. S. 66, [Footnote 2/2] though flight at the approach of a gun-carrying stranger (Lasky was apparently not in uniform) is hardly indicative of mens rea.
"Although the officer had a right to arrest me at the moment when he seized me and searched my person, the search is invalid because he did not, in fact, arrest me until afterwards."
This fact is important because, as demonstrated by Terry, not every curtailment of freedom of movement is an "arrest" requiring antecedent probable cause. At the same time, an officer who does have probable cause may, of course, seize and search immediately. Hence, while certain police actions will undoubtedly turn an encounter into an arrest requiring antecedent probable cause, the prosecution must be able to date the arrest as early as it chooses following the development of probable cause.
The second possible source of confusion is the Court's statement that "Officer Lasky did not engage in an unrestrained and thoroughgoing examination of Peters and his personal effects." Ante at 392 U. S. 67. Since the Court found probable cause to arrest Peters, and since an officer arresting on probable cause is entitled to make a very full incident search, [Footnote 2/5] I assume that this is merely a factual observation. As a factual matter, I agree with it.
cause to make a forced stop. Unlike probable cause to arrest, reasonable grounds to stop do not depend on any degree of likelihood that a crime has been committed. An officer may forcibly intrude upon an incipient crime even where he could not make an arrest for the simple reason that there is nothing to arrest anyone for. Hence, although Officer Lasky had small reason to believe that a crime had been committed, his right to stop Peters can be justified if he had a reasonable suspicion that Peters was about to attempt burglary.
It was clear that the officer had to act quickly if he was going to act at all, and, as stated above, it seems to me that, where immediate action is obviously required, a police officer is justified in acting on rather less objectively articulable evidence than when there is more time for consideration of alternative courses of action. Perhaps more important, the Court's opinion in Terry emphasized the special qualifications of an experienced police officer. While "probable cause" to arrest or search has always depended on the existence of hard evidence that would persuade a "reasonable man," in judging on-the-street encounters, it seems to me proper to take into account a police officer's trained instinctive judgment operating on a multitude of small gestures and actions impossible to reconstruct. Thus, the statement by an officer that "he looked like a burglar to me" adds little to an affidavit filed with a magistrate in an effort to obtain a warrant. When the question is whether it was reasonable to take limited but forcible steps in a situation requiring immediate action, however, such a statement looms larger. A court is, of course, entitled to disbelieve the officer (who is subject to cross-examination), but, when it believes him and when there are some articulable supporting facts, it is entitled to find action taken under fire to be reasonable.
Given Officer Lasky's statement of the circumstances, and crediting his experienced judgment as he watched the two men, the state courts were entitled to conclude, as they did, that Lasky forcibly stopped Peters on "reasonable suspicion." The frisk made incident to that stop was a limited one, which turned up burglar's tools. Although the frisk is constitutionally permitted only in order to protect the officer, if it is lawful the State is of course entitled to the use of any other contraband that appears.
"make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony."
Under Ker v. California, 374 U. S. 23, a parallel standard is applicable to warrantless arrests by state and local police.
Compare Henry v. United States, 361 U. S. 98, in which the Court said there was "far from enough evidence . . . to justify a magistrate in issuing a warrant." Id. at 361 U. S. 103. Agents knew that a federal crime, theft of whisky from an interstate shipment, had been committed "in the neighborhood." Petitioner was observed driving into an alley, picking up packages, and driving away. I agree that these facts did not constitute probable cause, but find it hard to see that the evidence here was more impressive.
under the Fourth Amendment. Because of a different emphasis on the facts, I find it necessary to restate them.
About 4 p.m., Patrolman Martin saw appellant Sibron in the vicinity of 742 Broadway. From then until 12 o'clock midnight, Sibron remained there. During that time, the policeman saw Sibron talking with six or eight persons whom the policeman knew from past experience to be narcotics addicts. Later, at about 12 o'clock, Sibron went into a restaurant, and there the patrolman saw Sibron speak with three more known addicts. While Sibron was eating in the restaurant, the policeman went to him and asked him to come out. Sibron came out. There, the officer said to Sibron, "You know what I am after." Sibron mumbled something and reached into his left coat pocket. The officer also moved his hand to the pocket and seized what was in it, which turned out to be heroin. The patrolman testified at the hearing to suppress use of the heroin as evidence that he "thought he [Sibron] might have been" reaching for a gun.
Counsel for New York, for some reason that I have not been able to understand, has attempted to confess error -- that is, that for some reason the search or seizure here violated the Fourth Amendment. I agree with the Court that we need not and should not accept this confession of error. But, unlike the Court, I think, for two reasons, that the seizure did not violate the Fourth Amendment, and that the heroin was properly admitted in evidence.
basis of § 180-a, which authorizes such a search when the officer 'reasonably suspects that he is in danger of life or limb.'"
Ante at 392 U. S. 63. And it seems to me to be a reasonable inference that, when Sibron, who had been approaching and talking to addicts for eight hours, reached his hand quickly to his left coat pocket, he might well be reaching for a gun. And as the Court has emphasized today in its opinions in the other "stop and frisk" cases, a policeman under such circumstances has to act in a split second; delay may mean death for him. No one can know when an addict may be moved to shoot or stab, and particularly when he moves his hand hurriedly to a pocket where weapons are known to be habitually carried, it behooves an officer who wants to live to act at once, as this officer did. It is true that the officer might also have thought Sibron was about to get heroin, instead of a weapon. But the law enforcement officers all over the Nation have gained little protection from the courts through opinions here if they are now left helpless to act in self-defense when a man associating intimately and continuously with addicts, upon meeting an officer, shifts his hand immediately to a pocket where weapons are constantly carried.
In appraising the facts as I have, I realize that the Court has chosen to draw inferences different from mine and those drawn by the courts below. The Court, for illustration, draws inferences that the officer's testimony at the hearing continued upon the "plain premise that he had been looking for narcotics all the time." Ante at 392 U. S. 47, n. 4. But this Court is hardly, at this distance from the place and atmosphere of the trial, in a position to overturn the trial and appellate courts on its own independent finding of an unspoken "premise" of the officer's inner thoughts.
D.C. should be most cautious. Due to our holding in Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U. S. 643, we are due to get for review literally thousands of cases raising questions like those before us here. If we are setting ourselves meticulously to review all such findings, our task will be endless, and many will rue the day when Mapp was decided. It is not only wise but imperative that, where findings of the facts of reasonableness and probable cause are involved in such state cases, we should not overturn state court findings unless in the most extravagant and egregious errors. It seems fantastic to me even to suggest that this is such a case. I would leave these state court holdings alone.
Second, I think also that there was sufficient evidence here on which to base findings that, after recovery of the heroin, in particular, an officer could reasonably believe there was probable cause to charge Sibron with violating New York's narcotics laws. As I have previously argued, there was, I think, ample evidence to give the officer probable cause to believe Sibron had a dangerous weapon and that he might use it. Under such circumstances, the officer had a right to search him in the very limited fashion he did here. Since, therefore, this was a reasonable and justified search, the use of the heroin discovered by it was admissible in evidence.

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