Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

OH: Holding defendant's driver's license for 50 minutes was not a seizure

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officer does not have to tell the defendant he was free to leave for the stop to be consensual. During this stop and request for identification, the defendant went to a pay phone and made a call for somebody to pick him up. He was not told he could leave, but he wasn't told he couldn't (like he would know the difference). State v. Lair, 2008 Ohio 2417, 2008 Ohio App. LEXIS 2068 (5th Dist. May 19, 2008). Significant is the fact the officer had defendant's driver's license 50 minutes, and the partically spoken fact that defendant could not leave without it, a fact of limited value here: [*P14] In the case sub judice, Officer Staysniak approached appellant shortly before 9:00 AM and asked to see his identification, which appellant provided. Officer Staysniak returned appellant's identification at approximately 9:49 AM...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 23, 2008 (boomark / email).