Please E-mail suggested additions, comments and/or corrections to Kent@MoreLaw.Com.
Help support the publication of case reports on MoreLaw
Date: 08-23-2021
Case Style:
United States of America v. CALVIN WEAVER
Case Number: 18-1697-cr
Judge: Debra Ann Livingston
Court: United States Court of Appeals
for the Second Circuit
Plaintiff's Attorney: CARINA H. SCHOENBERGER, Assistant United
States Attorney, for Antoinette T. Bacon,
Acting United States Attorney for the
Northern District of New York
Defendant's Attorney:
Description:
New York, NY - Criminal defense lawyer represented defendant with whether a police officer’s pat-down search of a suspect for weapons was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment claim.
This case presents what is, in some respects, a familiar question:
whether a police officer’s pat-down search of a suspect for weapons
was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Based on the facts
presented, we conclude that it was. We write en banc to confirm
several fundamental, and well-settled, principles of Fourth
Amendment jurisprudence. First, a police officer’s verbal directives to
a suspect do not transform a stop into a search when they do not
amount to a physical trespass or intrusion into an area subject to a
reasonable expectation of privacy, irrespective of any reasonable belief
by a suspect as to whether a search is occurring. Second, a police
officer’s subjective intent bears no weight in determining when that
officer’s interaction with the suspect constitutes a search. Third, in
evaluating whether an officer has reasonable suspicion that a suspect
is armed, courts must look to the totality of the circumstances
confronting the officer, as viewed objectively by a reasonable and
cautious officer on the scene. When the circumstances give rise to
4
reasonable suspicion that a suspect has a weapon, an officer need not
rule out alternative explanations—whether innocent or otherwise—
for a suspect’s behavior before deciding to conduct a pat-down for his
safety.
Outcome: We VACATE the panel decision and AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: