Court Opinion

ID: 9518614
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 00:57:28.077828+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:28:57.782724
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE NASH, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. While I agree with the majority that defendants were properly detained when initially seized by the officers, and could have been reasonably detained longer at that place while an investigation continued, I do not agree the requirements of the fourth amendment were met when defendants were transported to the police station and there held in custody. The facts of this case fall between those in Dunaway v. New York (1979), 442 U.S. 200, 60 L. Ed. 2d 824, 99 S. Ct. 2248, and Florida v. Royer (1983), 460 U.S. 491, 75 L. Ed. 2d 229, 103 S. Ct. 1319, in both of which the court found defendants were illegally detained as the limits of a Terry-stop had been exceeded. While it is true limited transportation of a suspect has been sanctioned, as noted by the majority, in each case it was for a short distance to a crime scene for identification purposes by the victims. In the present case, transportation was to the police station while officers investigated whether any crime had occurred. It seems apparent defendants had been arrested when they were handcuffed, placed in the police car and taken to the station. It is equally apparent the officers then lacked probable cause to believe defendants had committed an offense. Had the officers merely detained defendants at or near the place where they were found for a short period of time while other officers backtracked them, the scope of the intrusion would be considered reasonable under these circumstances. It was not reasonable, in my view, to arrest defendants and confine them in a police station while further investigation was undertaken. The majority appear to hold that transportation to and confinement in a police station is a generally acceptable procedure which may be carried out where the circumstances justify a Terry stop, and do so in a case where the only evidence that any crime had been committed by anyone related to a week earlier. I would affirm the judgment of the trial court suppressing the evidence in this case.