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D.Minn.: Motion to suppress granted after guilty verdict; no RS for vehicle frisk

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

After the jury verdict, the court grants the motion to suppress on the ground the defendant’s stop was without reasonable suspicion and the search was without cause, and a judgment of acquittal is entered. United States v. Foster, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114567 (D. Minn. October 27, 2010): Importantly, the Fourth Amendment does not permit police to conduct routine, suspicionless searches of people or vehicles during traffic stops. See Long, 463 U.S. at 1049 n.14 (“We stress that our decision does not mean that the police may conduct automobile searches whenever they conduct an investigative stop ....”). Indeed, as the Supreme Court recently held in Arizona v. Gant, even if a traffic stop leads to an arrest, the police may not automatically search the stopped vehicle...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on November 01, 2010 (boomark / email).