Terry+v.+Ohio

Fourth Amendment Cases

In Cleveland, Detective Mcfadden saw two men walking back and forth, peeking into a store window and talking to each other. They did this around 24 times when they were joined by a third man who left swiftly. McFadden followed the two men a few blocks when they met up with the third man in front of a store. The detective approached the three men and told them he was a police officer and asked them for their names. One of the men mumbled something and McFadden spun him around and patted him down and identified a pistol in his coat pocket. Tey went into the store where McFadden ordered the man to take the jacket off and patted down the other two to find one of them with another pistol and he did not check the third man's pockets because he didn't feel any weapons in the pat-down. They went to the police station and the first two men were charged with concealing weapons. The defense appealed to suppress the weapons on the ground of not a legal search and seizure but since McFadden only went into the defendants pockets for the weapons after they failed a simple pat-down, they ruled it legal. The court distinguished between a "stop" and an arrest and a "frisk" for weapons. The two men were found guilty and an immediately appealed the ruling but the supreme court upheld the decision.

__//**MAJORITY OPINION**//__ the majority opinion for the case was that asking a person on the street questions but the person is not obligated to answer the questions. the person may be briefly detained and asked these questions. the person is still not obligated to answer the questions. the cop took the guns from the men because he had reasonable suspicion when he frisked the men and found the guns. it also was for his safety to take the guns.

__//**MINORITY OPINION**//__ Justice Douglas strongly disagreed with the decision because he thought the officer did not have the right to frisk the men.

Fourth Amendment Cases