Court Opinion

ID: 9446661
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 22:00:53.825364+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:44.283959
License: Public Domain

EDGERTON, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I think the general and conflicting descriptions of the culprit were not enough, without seriously suspicious circumstances, to justify an arrest of this man. There is nothing in the slightest degree suspicious about knocking on a front door, looking around while waiting for an answer, and going away. There is nothing seriously suspicious about nervousness in responding to a police challenge. And even if the defendant’s nervousness were enough to arouse reasonable suspicion, it would not furnish probable cause for his arrest, because the nervousness did not appear until after the arrest. The defendant was arrested as soon as the police accosted him, for he must have known at once that he was no longer free to walk away. I think the arrest was illegal and the evidence should have been suppressed.