Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Minnesota v. Dickerson case brief

Minnesota v. Dickerson case brief summary
508 U.S. 366 (1993)

CASE SYNOPSIS
The United States Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari to hear petitioner government's case to determine whether the Fourth Amendment permits the seizure of contraband detected through a police officer's sense of touch during a protective patdown search.

CASE FACTS
Respondent was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance after a police officer, during a stop and frisk, retrieved a lump of cocaine from respondent's pocket. The trial court denied respondent's motion to suppress the cocaine. Respondent proceeded to trial and was found guilty. The state supreme court affirmed the state court of appeals' decision reversing the trial court. The state supreme court found that based on the record before it, the officer determined that the lump was contraband only after squeezing, sliding, and otherwise manipulating the contents of respondent's pocket which the officer already knew contained no weapon. The state supreme court held that the stop and the frisk of respondent was valid under Terry, but that the seizure of the cocaine was unconstitutional.

DISCUSSION


  • The court affirmed. 
  • The court stated that the state supreme court was correct in holding that the police officer in this case overstepped the bounds of the "strictly circumscribed" search for weapons allowed under Terry.

CONCLUSION
The court affirmed the state supreme court's judgment that the police officer overstepped the bounds of the "strictly circumscribed" search for weapons allowed under Terry when the officer retrieved a lump of cocaine from respondent's pocket.

Recommended Supplements for Criminal Procedure Criminal Procedure: Examples & Explanations, Sixth Edition
Emanuel Law Outline: Criminal Procedure

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