Case Name: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. James Johnson, Also Known as Walter Brown, Appellant
Court: New York Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1972-07-07
Citations: 30 N.Y.2d 929
Docket Number: 
Parties: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. James Johnson, Also Known as Walter Brown, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Reports
Volume: 30
Pages: 929–930

Head Matter:
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. James Johnson, Also Known as Walter Brown, Appellant.
Argued June 8, 1972;
decided July 7, 1972.
G. Jeffrey Sorge, James J. McDonough and Matthew Muraskin for appellant.
William Cahn, District Attorney (Henry P. Devine of counsel), for respondent.

Opinion:
Order reversed and the information dismissed in the following memorandum: On the record before us, neither the stop nor the frisk of appellant was justified by reasonable suspicions on the part of the police. (Code Crim. Pro., § 180-a; Sibron v. New York, 392 U. S. 40; Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1.) Absent an articulable foundation for the entrenchment upon individual liberty and privacy which a stop and frisk entails, police suspicions remain merely ' ' hunches ' ' and are not reasonable within section 180-a of the Code of Criminal Procedure. (Cf. People v. Arthurs, 24 N Y 2d 688; People v. Taggart, 20 N Y 2d 335.) Accordingly, the conviction of appellant should be reversed and the information dismissed.