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MA: Detention to run warrants without RS was unreasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

FIO (Field Interrogation Observation) amounted to a stop and a seizure when the officers retained defendant's ID without reasonable suspicion to run a warrant check. Commonwealth v. Lyles, 2009 Mass. LEXIS 78 (May 15, 2009): In a case that is factually analogous to the present one, the Supreme Court of Tennessee in State v. Daniel, 12 S.W.3d 420, 427-428 (Tenn. 2000), concluded that a defendant was seized within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and art. I, § 7, of the Tennessee Constitution when, after requesting and examining the defendant's identification, a police officer retained the identification to run a computer check for outstanding warrants. The court stated that the officer's conduct in merely approaching the defendant, inquiring what was going on, and asking to see his identification did not constitute a seizure because it appeared that this encounter was not accompanied by physical force or a show of authority...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 20, 2009 (boomark / email).