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M.D.Fla.: Coming out of a house under surveillance was not RS; officers had utterly no facts of wrongdoing by anybody

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendants came out of up to a house under surveillance for suspected drug activity overnight, but the officers had no PC as to the house. The mere fact of coming out of the house in the early morning hours is not reasonable suspicion of anything. They lacked any facts of a suspected crime. United States v. Traviesa, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41595 (N.D. Fla. May 6, 2009): Because the officers suspected criminal activity was being conducted inside of the 6550 residence, they decided to conduct surveillance on the location. However, the mere fact that the occupants of the car emerged from a house which was suspected of being involved in narcotics activity is insufficient to provide reasonable suspicion that criminal activity involving these particular Defendants was afoot...continue to full post

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