Court Opinion

ID: 9797142
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:14:21.403459+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:52:47.190326
License: Public Domain

Justice EISMANN,
Concurring in the Result.
Under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, a search must be reasonable under the totality of the circumstances. Samson v. California, — U.S. —, 126 S.Ct. 2193, 165 L.Ed.2d 250 (2006). “Whether a search is reasonable ‘is determined by assessing, on the one hand, the degree to which it intrudes upon an individual’s privacy and, on the other, the degree to which it is needed for the promotion of legitimate governmental interests.’ ” Id. at —, 126 S.Ct. at 2197, 165 L.Ed.2d at 256.
A temporary seizure for the purpose of questioning (a Terry stop) is justifiable under the Fourth Amendment if the officer has a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the person has committed or is about to commit a crime. Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). If the officer reasonably believes he or she is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual, the officer may also frisk the person for weapons. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). In the context of a Terry stop, a detainee who is armed is considered dangerous. Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 98 S.Ct. 330, 54 L.Ed.2d 331 (1977).
In Pennsylvania v. Mimms, the officer stopped the vehicle being driven by Mimms for an expired license plate. He told Mimms to get out of the car and produce his owner’s card and operator’s license. When Mimms alighted from the car, the officer noticed a large bulge under Mimms’s sports jacket. Fearing that it might be a weapon, the officer frisked Mimms and found a loaded revolver in his waistband. Upon seeing the bulge, the officer was authorized to frisk Mimms without having to eliminate the possibility that Mimms was armed but not dangerous. As the Supreme Court stated, “The bulge in the jacket permitted the officer to conclude that Mimms was armed and thus posed a serious and present danger to the safety of the officer.” Id. at 112, 98 S.Ct. at 334, 54 L.Ed.2d at 337-38. The right to frisk can arise simply from the nature of the possible crime the officer is investigating. In Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), the officer observed Terry and two others apparently easing a store for a robbery. The very nature of the crime they appeared to be planning (robbery) gave the officer reason to believe they may be armed and therefore dangerous, justifying the frisk. As the Supreme Court stated at *664392 U.S. 28, 88 S.Ct. at 1883, 20 L.Ed.2d at 910:
He [the officer] had observed Terry, together with Chilton and another man, acting in a manner he took to be preface to a “stick-up.” We think on the facts and circumstances Officer McFadden detailed before the trial judge a reasonably prudent man would have been warranted in believing petitioner was armed and thus presented a threat to the officer’s safety while he was investigating his suspicious behavior. The actions of Terry and Chilton were consistent with McFadden’s hypothesis that these men were contemplating a daylight robbery which, it is reasonable to assume, would be likely to involve the use of weapons....
The pat down in the instant case occurred during a police-initiated, consensual encounter between Henage and the officers. The officers were not detaining Henage because they possessed a reasonable, articulable suspicion that he had committed or was about to commit any crime. In my opinion, that changes the balancing of the degree to which the pat down intrudes upon an individual’s privacy with the degree to which it is needed for the promotion of legitimate governmental interests. Under the totality of the circumstances in this case, Henage’s statement that he had a knife in his pocket did not justify a pat down search. No reasonable person could have concluded, under the circumstances in this case, that Henage posed a danger to the officers.
Justice BURDICK concurs.