United States First Circuit

The district court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress evidence of drugs seized during a traffic stop and his incriminating roadside statements, where: 1) this case can appropriately be treated as a Terry stop under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 19-20 (1968), which requires only reasonable suspicion as a predicate for the officer's actions; 2) adequate reasonable suspicion justified stopping defendant's vehicle; 3) the totality of the circumstances gave the officer reasonable grounds to suspect that the defendant might be dangerous, and thus, he had an adequate security-related ground to pat the defendant down for weapons; 4) seizing the oxycodone pills as part of the search was also reasonable; and 5) the officer's questioning did not approach (let alone cross) the outer bounds of a Terry stop.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/02/2014
• Published 07/02/2014

Judges

• SELYA

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel