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CA2: Citation to appear not a seizure

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

A citation to appear is not a Fourth Amendment seizure. The Second Circuit thus joins the other circuits. Here, Burg ignored the ticket and a warrant was issued. Burg v. Gosselin, 09-0708-cv (2d Cir. January 7, 2010): We hold that the issuance of a pre-arraignment, non-felony summons requiring a later court appearance, without further restrictions, does not constitute a Fourth Amendment seizure. This summons does no more than require Burg to appear in court on a single occasion, and operates to effectuate due process. There is no restriction on travel, which mattered in Murphy. Moreover, in Murphy, there were eight court appearances, not the single appearance required by the summons issued by Gosselin. The number of appearances may bear upon whether there was a seizure--though it is hard to see how multiple appearances required by a court, or for the convenience of the person answering the summons, can be attributed to the conduct of the officer who issues it...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 08, 2010 (boomark / email).