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MA: Frisk can continue past finding a weapon

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Search incident was proper, and a box cutter was found. The officer was not required to stop the search incident just on finding the box cutter and other hard objects. Commonwealth v. Dessources, 2009 Mass. App. LEXIS 599 (May 8, 2009).* Officer's conclusion that defendant was the man wanted in a robbery call was unreasonable. The man wanted was described as white and the defendant was a light skinned Hispanic. There were no facts otherwise that linked the defendant to a possible robbery or that he was armed. The stop and frisk was not justified, and the trial court's suppression order was properly granted. Commonwealth v. Martinez, 2009 Mass. App. LEXIS 600 (May 11, 2009).* Telling the defendant to get out of his van was a seizure because he could not have believed he could refuse...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 17, 2009 (boomark / email).