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LA5: Frisk was valid, but incriminating nature of object was not readily apparent

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant was ordered out of the car with the others in it, and his movements made the officer concerned for his safety, so a frisk was justified. The incriminating nature of the object was unknown, however, so the search of a cigarette pack was invalid. State v. Brown, 2009 La. App. LEXIS 2218 (La. App. 5th Cir. December 29, 2009)*: The case before us is distinguishable from Morton in that there is nothing in the record to show that the cocaine evidence seized from defendant's pocket would inevitably have been discovered in a legal manner. According to the testimony, there was nothing the officer could have arrested defendant for at the time of the traffic stop aside from the discovery of the cocaine. The record contains no evidence that defendant had outstanding warrants...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 05, 2010 (boomark / email).