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

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

FL: Holding onto driver's license for a while after defendant came back clear to ask questions was not unreasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Merely holding on to defendant's driver's license after the warrants check came back clean while the oficer was asking questions did not per se transform the stop into an unlawful detention. Gaynor v. State, 2008 Fla. App. LEXIS 3294 (Fla. App. 2 DCA March 7, 2008).* Not calling certain witnesses at the suppression hearing would not have changed the outcome, so defense counsel could not be ineffective. Simmons v. State, 2008 Mo. App. LEXIS 306 (March 10, 2008).* Defendant's continued detention after the traffic stop was based on the officer believing that the defendant was a person potentially armed, and that made it reasonable. Therefore, defense counsel was not ineffective for not challenging it. State v. Jones, 2008 Ohio 968, 2008 Ohio App...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 12, 2008 (boomark / email).