Court Opinion

ID: 9471217
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:27:06.575853+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:18.650611
License: Public Domain

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
In my view, the ultimate issue of what constitutes a seizure of the person is a question of law (in effect, of interpretation of the Fourth Amendment), as to which the clearly erroneous standard does not apply. Of course, as to all the various facts surrounding and defining an alleged seizure in a particular case, that standard does, in varying degrees, apply. For example, whether a suspect is “free to leave” would appear to have a significant factual component. Similarly, whether a reasonable person in the suspect’s place would have believed that he was not free to leave requires a factual analysis. See United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 554, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 1877, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980) (Stewart, J.) (with Rehnquist, J., concurring).
Here I agree, that, as a matter of fact and law, under Mendenhall, Royer, Black and other controlling precedents, there was no seizure in the public area of the persons of the two claimants.