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WI: Suspicion of legal drug activity alone did not justify handcuffing

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Suspicion of illegal drug activity alone does not justify handcuffing the defendant. The fact that drugs and weapons may go hand in hand in some situations does not elevate this situation to justifying handcuffing. State v. Pickens, 2009 Wisc. App. LEXIS 1004 (December 23, 2009): P31 Notably, the State does not develop an argument that the suspicion of illegal drug activity alone justified handcuffing Pickens. In the absence of full briefing, we choose not to decide the issue. We note, however, that our research indicates that we would likely reject such an argument. Although courts have frequently observed that illegal drugs and weapons go hand in hand, reasonable suspicion of drug activity is not, by itself, generally a sufficient indicator of dangerousness to justify the level of restraint police imposed on Pickens...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on December 29, 2009 (boomark / email).