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D.S.C.: Officer making stop on reasonable suspicion defendant was in a drug deal could ask about guns

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officers with reasonable suspicion when confronting the defendant about a drug deal they stopped him for could ask him about whether he had a gun without Mirandizing him. Drug dealers often have guns, and guns are dangerous. United States v. Sinclair, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42542 (D. S.C. May 18, 2009): The proposition that drug trafficking is highly linked with dangerous weapons and violence involving such weapons is so obvious and well-established that this Court need give no further enumeration or proof of its veracity. In the present case, as explained above, law enforcement had reasonable suspicion that Defendant had a large quantity of marijuana in his automobile, and intended to sell a large quantity of marijuana to the informant. Given the well-established link between drug trafficking and gun violence, law enforcement therefore also had reasonable suspicion that Defendant was armed and dangerous...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 22, 2009 (boomark / email).