Opinion ID: 1836924
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Stop of Defendant

Text: Reasonable suspicion for an investigatory stop is something less than probable cause and must be determined under the specific facts of each case by whether the officer had sufficient knowledge of particular facts and circumstances to justify the infringement on individual's right to be free from governmental interference. State v. Varnell, 410 So.2d 1108 (1982); State v. Bickham, 404 So.2d 929 (La.1981); State v. Blanton, 400 So.2d 661 (La.1981); State v. Ault, 394 So.2d 1192 (La.1981). We find the court of appeal improperly focused on inconsequential differences between the general information provided by the untested informant and events occurring on the day in question. Although the tip provided the impetus for establishing the surveillance, the officers clearly did not stop the defendant based on this information alone. Indeed, the officers directly observed a hand to hand transaction indicative of a narcotics sale: the defendant received money in exchange for an object he brought from his residence; the unknown male with whom he made the transaction had just arrived and then left immediately after the transaction; and lastly, the unknown male suspiciously put something into his mouth before fleeing from approaching officers. In determining whether or not reasonable cause exists to temporarily detain a person, the totality of the circumstances, the whole picture, must be considered. State v. Belton, 441 So.2d 1195, 1198 (La.1983) (citing United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 101 S.Ct. 690, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981).) Accordingly, we hold that these activities, particularly when coupled with the tip that the defendant sold large amounts of heroin, gave police more than a sufficient basis to stop the defendant. See, e.g., State v. Robertson, 97-2960 (La.10/20/98), 721 So.2d 1268, 1270-71 (The officers could have set up more extensive surveillance of defendant until they observed suspicious or unusual behavior. Furthermore, if, after corroborating the readily observable facts, the officers had noticed unusual or suspicious conduct on defendant's part, they would have had reasonable suspicion to detain him.).