Opinion ID: 849089
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Absence of Probable Cause

Text: Dickerson made it clear that an object is seizable only where its incriminating identity is immediately apparent because of the mass and contour of the object. As an initial matter, the majority too readily assumes that a limited patdown could clearly reveal the identity of objects in the defendant's front pocket so that manipulation would not be required to support probable cause for a seizure. Obviously, the contours and mass of the objects in the defendant's pocket were not unique. This is evidenced by the fact that the officer believed the defendant was carrying cardboard, though he was actually carrying photographs. The majority glosses over the officer's factual mistake and deems it irrelevant. Though perhaps not dispositive in every case, I believe that a factual mistake about the identity of an object must be immediately apparent, because contraband tends to reduce the likelihood that a particular seizure is supported by probable cause. And because the existence of probable cause is made less likely by the mistake, I believe such factual errors are certainly relevant to our determination whether probable cause existed. [9] Probable cause will be found to exist where the facts and circumstances, within the knowledge of the authorities and of which the authorities had reasonably trustworthy information were sufficient in themselves to warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that [a crime has been committed]. Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 162, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925). A very important distinction must be drawn between the basis for an officer's ability to stop and frisk and his ability to seize an item pursuant to the plain feel doctrine. The stop and frisk must be predicated upon only reasonable suspicion. The plain feel doctrine allows an officer to seize immediately apparent contraband that he feels during the patdown on the ground that the officer has probable cause for the seizure. In other words, if an officer feels something that he only reasonably suspects to be contraband, he cannot seize it. In the present case, I am not convinced that the officer acted upon probable cause, though he may have subjectively suspected that the defendant was carrying blotter acid on cardboard. While the stop and frisk could potentially be justified on reasonable suspicion grounds, that justification would lie largely in the fact that the interest in protecting officers and innocent bystanders from the harm an armed suspect may cause outweighs a suspicious individual's interest in being free from a limited search. A seizure made pursuant to a frisk requires a higher level of justification than a frisk itself, however, because the officers have gained access to the defendant's person pursuant to a limited Fourth Amendment exception. When the seizure occurs, the balance to be considered is whether the officer's ability to seize an item to which he gained access on the basis of reasonable suspicion that an individual was armed and dangerous outweighs an individual's interest in possessing items and the individual's legitimate expectation of privacy. Were there no concern for the officer's safety, an officer could not randomly frisk a defendant. Rather, the search must be limited to a weapons search. Here, we have a defendant who was essentially deemed guilty by association. The officers observed that Holder was intoxicated, found money on Holder, and found drugs on Holder. When they patted down the defendant, they felt no weapons and no contraband. Yet, the majority stretches to the conclusion that the officer had probable cause to believe that the defendant was in possession of blotter acid simply because his friend had been found in possession of marijuana and because he had an object in his pocket that felt like cardboard, which could have been used to blot acid. [10] Further, Dickerson would support a conclusion that the seizure here was unjustified because the officer conducted a search under the auspices of the plain feel doctrine. Dickerson plainly stated that where a further search is required in order to determine that an object is contraband, it is not seizable under the plain feel doctrine. [11] Here, even if it had been cardboard that the officer felt, he would have had to manipulate the object in order to determine that it was in fact contraband. Cardboard itself is not contraband, and may lawfully be carried. Only a further search would reveal whether the cardboard somehow contained contraband. In any event, the factors cited in the majority opinion do not support the conclusion that the detaining officer had probable cause to believe that the defendant was carrying drug-laced cardboard in his front pocket. According to the majority, In this case, while conducting the patdown search of defendant, the officer felt a two-by-three-inch object in defendant's pocket that he believed was a card of blotter acid. His belief was based on his knowledge that blotter acid was often contained on sheets of cardboard; his awareness that cards of blotter acid were capable of fitting into a pants pocket like that he felt on defendant; the antecedent discovery of marijuana and a large amount of money on Holder, the driver of the vehicle in which defendant was a passenger; Holder's shout to defendant not to tell the police anything; the fact that defendant was with Holder during the entire evening; and the officer's training and twenty-three years of experience as a police officer. Under these circumstances, the officer had probable cause to believe that the object he felt in defendant's pocket was contraband. [Maj. op. at 879.] Interestingly, none of these factors indicates that the officer had reason to suspect that the defendant would be carrying contraband. The officer's knowledge that blotter acid is often carried on cardboard and that such pieces of cardboard would fit into a pocket do not support a conclusion that this defendant, a person previously unknown to the officers, would be carrying blotter acid in his pants. Additionally, the officer pointed to nothing specific that would distinguish a piece of cardboard used to blot acid from a photograph or any other piece of paper. He had no articulable basis for concluding that whatever piece of paper the defendant was carrying was used for acid blotter. [12] Moreover, the fact that the police knew Holder was carrying marijuana does not support an implication that the defendant would be in possession of acid. In fact, at the point at which he was frisked, the defendant himself had nothing to alert the police that he was engaged in criminal activity. Under the facts and circumstances, a man of reasonable prudence and caution would have no basis for concluding that the defendant had committed the offense of possessing narcotics. Unless it is now an offense to choose one's associates poorly, I see no reasonable ground for believing that the defendant could be charged with any illegality. [13] Accordingly, I do not believe a finding of probable cause is supportable.