Alley-way questioning and pat-down request give rise to Fourth Amendment seizure in light of officers’ targeted approach and persistent questioning, the limits on appellant’s movement, and the fact that the encounter occurred in a high crime area with “high visibility” patrols

Nowhere to run by Douglas M. Paine, licensed under Creative Commons

Dozier v. U.S., 15-CF-1098

• Holding 1: Appellant was seized for Fourth Amendment purposes by the time he complied with an officer’s request to put his hands on the wall so that police could frisk him for weapons, where armed, uniformed police parked in front of the alley appellant was walking out of, got out, walked up to appellant, and asked if they could speak to him (twice), if he had any weapons, and after appellant exposed his waistband to prove he did not, if they could pat him down. “Even assuming [this] interaction . . . began in a consensual manner, . . . there was a Fourth Amendment seizure by the time appellant submitted to the officers’ request to a pat-down” because “an innocent person in appellant’s situation would not have felt free to decline that request.” Slip Op. at 12. Factors relevant to the court’s determination include: the natural apprehensiveness any person would feel when approached by multiple officers in a secluded alley late at night, id. at 15; the officers’ persistence which signaled that appellant could not terminate the encounter until police finished their investigation, id. at 15-16, 23-24; and the restraint on appellant’s movement caused by the officers parking at the secluded alley’s entrance and walking toward appellant from that direction, id. at 23. 
• Of Note: In addition, the Court considered that “the encounter took place in a ‘high crime area’”--one subject to “frequent[] and visibl[e]” patrols--“and involved an African-American man.” Id. at 16, 17. The court deemed these factors relevant because even an innocent man in such a neighborhood might reasonably perceive that he is the target of a criminal investigation when approached by police; id. at 16-17, 19; because “persons of color” were “more likely to be subjected to this type of police surveillance” and therefore “particularly justified” in fearing it; id. at 19; and because “[i]n the isolated setting where the encounter took place, appellant . . . reasonably could have feared that unless he complied with the police requests, he would be vulnerable to police violence, without hope that anyone would come to his aid or witness what happened,” id. at 22.
• Holding 2: Because there was no reasonable articulable suspicion to seize by the time appellant submitted to being patted down, testimony that appellant took flight during the pat-down and subsequently threw an object containing a controlled substance should have been suppressed as the fruits of the illegal seizure. Id. at 27-28.

Read the full opinion here.

A copy of this post has been added to the Fourth Amendment section of the (Early) Year In Review (Part 1).

WCC

Seizure occurred when police asked man about his identity for 10 minutes; suspicion that he lied about his name didn't justify the stop

Kelby R. Gordon v. United States (decided July 23, 2015).

The Players:  Associate Judges Beckwith and McLeese, Senior Judge Ferren.  Opinion by Senior Judge Ferren.  Anna B. Scanlon for Appellant.  Trial Judge: Harold Cushenberry, Jr.

The Facts: Four police officers entered the small foyer of a building in a “high crime” area where four men, including Mr. Gordon, were hanging out.  The whole building smelled like burned marijuana, but the officers did not see the men smoking.  One officer asked Mr. Gordon for identification.  Mr. Gordon said he had none and did not live in the building.  He told the officer his name was “Khalil Mikes” and gave his date of birth.  In response to more questioning, he said he had been locked up in D.C. before.  The officer used his laptop to search for Mr. Gordon’s record, but found nothing.  He continued to question Mr. Gordon about how he spelled his name, whether he used aliases, etc.  This went on for ten minutes or so.  Mr. Gordon eventually gave his real name.  The officer finally retrieved Mr. Gordon’s data, discovered he had an outstanding warrant, and placed him under arrest.  Mr. Gordon admitted he had weed on him, was searched incident to arrest, weed was found and he was subsequently charged with possessing it.     

Holding: Mr. Gordon was seized unlawfully, without reasonable, articulable suspicion that he had been engaged in criminal activity.  As to seizure, the Court held that a man questioned about his identity for ten minutes would not reasonably believe that he could simply walk away.  Gordon was seized because he submitted to what amounted to a show of police authority consisting of repeated questioning accompanied by computer database searches.  The police’s focus on him would lead a reasonable person to think that he would not be allowed to leave until his identity and record were confirmed by the searches.  Nor was the seizure justified.  The Court rejected the idea that giving a false name (even when combined with “high crime area” and other soft factors) gave grounds for a detention because people can give a false name merely because they are afraid, not because they are committing a crime. SF

Read full opinion here.