Opinion ID: 692350
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 At approximately 8:49 p.m. on December 21, 1992, Blytheville police officers Alan Buchanan and Paul Blankenship, in separate cars, were dispatched in response to a 911 call reporting gun shots in the parking lot of Philbrook's Grocery, a popular hangout for patrons of the store. Twenty or thirty people were in the lot when the officers arrived; with their arrival, the crowd began to disperse, and Officer Buchanan saw Tony Brown walking toward him between two parked cars. Buchanan knew, from information from other Blytheville officers, that Brown was a convicted felon with a recent arrest for carrying a weapon. 3 Buchanan asked Brown, through the open window of the patrol car, Tony, who's doing the shooting down here? Brown answered that there had been no shooting; the sound had been that of a car backfiring. As Buchanan began to get out of his car, Brown turned and walked away from Buchanan. Buchanan called after him, wait a minute, Tony, I want to talk to you. Brown did not answer and continued to walk away. Finally, Buchanan said, Tony, stop, and Brown then stood still. Brown was wearing a jacket that covered him to mid-thigh, and carrying a cup with an alcoholic drink in it. 4 Buchanan asked Brown to put his hands on the patrol car, and frisked him. He immediately felt the shape of a gun in Brown's outside coat pocket, and said to Officer Blankenship, who was approaching, Paul, he's got a gun in his coat pocket. 5 Buchanan reached into the pocket and took out a loaded and cocked sawed-off shotgun. He then handcuffed Brown, placing him under arrest. 6 Brown moved to suppress the evidence found during the frisk. Following a hearing, the magistrate judge recommended denial of the motion, and the district court adopted the recommendation. Brown entered a conditional plea of guilty, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress, and was sentenced to 235 months imprisonment. This appeal followed.