To: Attorney Antoinette Dickens
From: Amali Hauter, Paralegal
Date: March 20, 2018
Re: Minnesota v. Dickerson 508 U.S. 366 (1993)
Inter-Office Memo
ASSIGNMENT
Review of the Minnesota v. Dickerson 508 U.S. 366 (1993). On November 9, 1989, two officers spotted Dickerson exiting an apartment building known for selling drugs. As Dickerson was walking down the sidewalk, he spotted the officers and turned around to walk the opposite way. The patrolling officers rose suspicion upon Dickerson’s behavior when he turned around as soon as he saw them. The officers proceeded to follow Dickerson and commanded that he stop. Dickerson stopped and allowed the officers to frisk him down to ensure that he was not carrying any firearms. The officer
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Ohio 392 U.S. 1 (1968), Officer McFadden observed Terry’s suspicious behavior as he was walking down the sidewalk. The officer stopped Terry, and conducted a frisk only to find that he was carrying firearms. Terry was charged with carrying firearms, with the intent to conduct a daytime robbery. The case was moved to the Ohio Supreme Court, because Terry believed that Officer McFadden violated his Fourth Amendment when he conducted a search and seized the firearms that were located inside the jacket that Terry was wearing. Ohio Supreme Court argued that Terry’s Fourth Amendment was not violated because McFadden has reasonable doubt Terry was acting suspicious. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled to charged Terry because Officer McFadden acted within the scope of the Fourth Amendment based on suspicious behavior giving him probable cause to conduct the search and seizure of the …show more content…
In Horton v. California, 496 U.S. 128 (1990), the California Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the warrantless seizure of evidence in plain view. Officers have the right to take any tangible items from an individual they may be frisking down at the moment if the officer has probable cause and believes that the items are related to a crime. Under the plain view doctrine, any contraband may be seized and used against an individual if it is in plain view, or in the reach of an officer; if the officer has been given permission to be in the place where the contraband is located; and if the individual has characterized suspicious behavior that led the officers to have probable cause to further retain the items in