U.S. v. Jenson
A recent 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision has ruled a pat-down search at a traffic stop unconstitutional under certain circumstances. [U.S. v. Jenson, August 23, 2006] Although this case is fact-driven, it is worthy of consideration for law enforcement officials.
Police stopped a vehicle for speeding. In the opinion of the officers, it took the vehicle entirely too long (30 seconds to one minute) to pull over and stop, arousing suspicions that the vehicle’s passengers may have been trying to conceal something. The officer making the stop testified that he became more suspicious when the driver, after realizing he was going to receive a written warning — not a ticket – became excessively talkative, which the officer interpreted as nervousness. According to the officer, a speeder normally becomes less nervous when he realizes he is not getting a ticket. The officer asked and received permission to search the vehicle. While the vehicle was apparently clean, the officer found a small handgun on the driver in an associated pat-down search. Later, at the police station, another policeman found a small bag of marijuana secreted in the driver’s sock.
In ensuing litigation, the driver moved to suppress the evidence found by the pat-down search, asserting that it violated his 4th Amendment rights. The 5th Circuit agreed. The Court opined that the government had not shown reasonable suspicion to prolong the traffic stop with the pat-down search which resulted in the gun (and the custodial offense). In other words, no valid connection was proven between the driver’s behavior as a result of the speeding stop and the drug or weapons possession; thus, the pat-down search was not justified.
If you have any comments, questions or ideas, please feel free to contact me at: lydia at sig dot msstate dot edu. Thanks for reading and have a good day.