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TX: Handcuffing permitted under Terry; not per se an arrest

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant's handcuffing was not per se an arrest. The trial court erred in so concluding. State v. Sheppard, 2008 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1506 (December 10, 2008): Indeed, appellee was not free to leave at that point; he was being temporarily detained while Officer Smith conducted his investigation. That is precisely what Terry permits-a temporary detention, in which the person is not free to leave, while the police officer investigates whether a crime has been committed. But a Fourth Amendment Terry detention is not a custodial arrest, and the use of handcuffs does not automatically convert a temporary detention into a Fourth Amendment arrest. As Professor LaFave explains, handcuffing a person who has been temporarily detained "is not ordinarily proper, but yet may be resorted to in special circumstances, such as when to thwart the suspect's attempt to 'frustrate further inquiry...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on December 14, 2008 (boomark / email).