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IL: Stop was without basis; a reasonable person would not consider himself free to leave watching officers search his car

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant's call for police assistance at his house and then inviting them in was not a Fourth Amendment issue. United States v. Jackson, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11764 (N.D. W.Va. February 9, 2009).* Defendant's stop was unjustified. They had no arrest or search warrant and did not observe defendant commit an offense. No specific facts provided reasonable suspicion that defendant was engaged in criminal activity. Because the out-of-state defendant and his car were illegally seized and he was Mirandized, frisked, seated in a police car, and dispossessed of his car for over 40-50 minutes, he was under arrest. A reasonable person from out-of-state without a car would not have considered himself free to leave with two officers interrogating him and two officers searching his car...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 21, 2009 (boomark / email).