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AZ: When officers realized defendant was not the wanted man, they should have released him, not take him in for questioning

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The defendant was detained because he looked like the suspect they wanted. When they found out he was not the right guy, they should have released him and not took him in for questioning because that violated his Fourth Amendment rights. On this record, however, this violation was harmless. State v. Kinney, 2010 Ariz. App. LEXIS 167 (October 28, 2010): P15 Here, the officers had received a tip that Balentine, for whom there was an outstanding felony arrest warrant, was at a particular address. Officers found Kinney at that location and he somewhat matched Balentine's physical description. Based upon the totality of the circumstances, the officers had reasonable suspicion that Kinney might be Balentine and, therefore, was involved in criminal activity...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on October 31, 2010 (boomark / email).