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WA: Search of defendants' car because they merely showed up at the scene of execution of a search warrant was without reaosnable suspicion and invalid

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Ordering defendants out of car at gunpoint where they merely appeared in a car at a house where a search warrant was about to be executed. Other than their showing up, there was no articulable suspicion that they did anything wrong. The detention and search was unlawful. State v. Smith, 2008 Wash. App. LEXIS 931 (Apr. 24, 2008), ordered published June 24, 2008: ¶22 This court has held that when a person comes into the residence in which a search is being conducted, any detention must be justified by specific and articulable facts that create an objective, reasonable belief that the suspect is armed and dangerous and may not be based on a generalized suspicion that people present during narcotic searches are often armed. State v. Lennon, 94 Wn...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 26, 2008 (boomark / email).