Opinion ID: 776440
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Based upon the bulge and the size of the bulge in his pocket.

Text: 40 Tr. at 30-31. 41 While the magistrate judge's comments during the suppression hearing are not evidence, we note here that his stated observations during the government's cross-examination of Roggeman are consistent with our conclusion that an officer with Trooper Moore's background and experience would have had a reasonable suspicion that Roggeman might be armed and dangerous. During one segment of the hearing, Roggeman attempted to demonstrate for the magistrate judge that the contents of his pocket on the night of his arrest would not have produced a visible bulge. Tr. at 45-49, 59-61. Instead of using the actual marijuana pipe, however, Roggeman used a bolt which he repeatedly represented to the magistrate judge was the same size as the pipe seized from his pocket. Tr. at 46, 60. Upon viewing this bolt, the magistrate judge had, he said, 42 no doubt that something the size of what you are displaying [the bolt], which is supposedly the size of the marijuana pipe, could be a weapon. It could be a knife. If the officer were able to observe that from the pocket, th[en] he would have justification to Terry search [sic]. 43 Tr. at 53-54. He therefore cut off a line of questioning in which the government was attempting to establish that the size of the items in Roggeman's pocket was consistent with the size of a weapon. Id. 44 When the magistrate judge later examined the pipe actually seized from Roggeman, he found that the stem of the pipe was larger than the shaft of the bolt used in the courtroom demonstration and that the diameter of the pipe's bowl was almost twice the diameter of the bolt's head. Roggeman, No. CR00-3046-MWB, at 9-10. Although the magistrate judge's report expressed doubt that the size of the bulge would have been as large as the trooper described (i.e., a bulge sticking out approximately 2 or 3 inches, Tr. at 22-23), the report also found that [i]t clearly would have been easier than it appeared in the courtroom demonstration for Trooper Moore to see that Roggeman had something in his pocket. Roggeman, No. CR00-3046-MWB, at 10. 45 The District Court cited two passages from the transcript of Roggeman's counsel's cross-examination of Trooper Moore to support its finding that the trooper, before patting down Roggeman, did not believe that he might be armed. Our review of the entirety of Trooper Moore's testimony, as well as of the entirety of the record, see Anderson, 470 U.S. at 573, 105 S.Ct. 1504, leads us to conclude that in these two passages Trooper Moore was disclaiming that he had possessed actual knowledge that the bulge was a weapon. He was not disclaiming that he had been suspicious that a weapon might be causing the bulge. In the first passage the District Court cited, 6 Roggeman's counsel asked the trooper for the reasons that he had believed that what he saw was a weapon. Tr. at 23. Trooper Moore's immediate reply was that he did not know what the object in Roggeman's pocket was. Id. Similarly, in the second passage cited by the District Court, 7 Roggeman's counsel again elicited the trooper's testimony that the bulge could have been made by objects other than a weapon and that he had been curious as to what was causing the bulge. Focusing on these statements, the District Court concluded that Trooper Moore was acting on nothing but a `hunch' or subjective belief unsupported by objective facts. Roggeman, No. CR00-3046, at 13-14. We are firmly convinced that this is not a conclusion that a reasonable reading of the Trooper's testimony can support. Though Trooper Moore never stated that he was certain that Roggeman was armed, throughout his testimony he continued to assert that he had suspected that Roggeman might have a weapon in his pocket and to explain the rational basis supporting this suspicion. See, e.g., Tr. at 39 (Q.... `How did it look like a weapon?' A. `Just the shape of the object, it made me curious as to what it was.'). For a protective pat-down search to be justified, it is not necessary that the officer have been absolutely certain that the suspect was armed. Terry, 392 U.S. at 27, 88 S.Ct. 1868. All the Fourth Amendment requires is objectively reasonable suspicion. The trooper's testimony in the portions of his cross-examination relied upon by the District Court in no way detracts from his consistent testimony that he had been concerned that Roggeman might have a weapon in his pocket. 46 Trooper Moore's explanation of his reasons for believing a weapon might be causing the bulge in Roggeman's pocket was not particularly articulate, but the trooper never backed away from the thrust of his entire testimony: that upon seeing the bulge in Roggeman's pocket, he was concerned that Roggeman might be carrying a weapon. Terry does not require the law-enforcement officer performing the search to state the reasons justifying the search articulately, only that such reasons be articulable. See United States v. Tharpe, 536 F.2d 1098, 1101 (5th Cir.1976) (en banc) (Terry cannot be read to condemn a pat-down search because it was made by an inarticulate policeman ..., so long as it is clear that he was aware of specific facts which would warrant a reasonable person to believe he was in danger.), overruled in part on other grounds, United States v. Causey, 834 F.2d 1179 (5th Cir.1987) (en banc). Here, the facts and circumstances would have justified a reasonable officer in believing that the bulge might be a weapon, and that is all that Terry and its progeny require. 47 Because the initial pat-down was limited to the right-front-pocket area where Trooper Moore saw the bulge, the search was reasonable in scope, and for the reasons we already have given, was supported by an objectively reasonable, articulable suspicion that the bulge might have been caused by a weapon in Roggeman's pocket. Accordingly, the search and the resulting seizure of evidence were reasonable, and none of Roggeman's Fourth Amendment rights were violated.