Assignment 2 Illinois v. Wardlow Sam Wardlow was a 44-year-old man who was standing on the side walk in Chicago. When he saw the police cars he decided to flee the scene. Even though Sam was not doing anything suspicious (that the police could see). The police thought that it was suspicious for him to turn back around and run away. So, the cops went after him and did a frisk where they found a gun with five live bullets in it. He (Sam) was then charged with unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, by the Cook County Circuit Court. Sam Wardlow then appealed his case to the Illinois Appellate Court, which then they sent it to the Illinois Supreme Court. Where both of the courts were in favor of Sam, they believed there …show more content…
Wardlow,” Sam was not engaged in an illegal conduct when the police officers saw him. What made the police officers suspicious of him was the instead of Wardlow to continue walking by the cops, he decided to turn around and walk the opposite direction. So, the police officers went after him and when they stopped him they conducted a frisk. And, they found a .38 caliber hand gun with five live bullets in the bag he was carrying. Which he was then arrested and taken to court. Sam Wardlow’s attorney filed a motion to have the gun evidence suppressed in the Cook County Circuit Court, because the officer did not have a justifiable suspicion that was sufficient to justify an investigative stop. The court denied the attorneys request to have the evidence suppressed. The judge believed that the finding of the .38 caliber gun was found during a lawful stop and frisk. The Illinois Appellate Courts First Division decided that Sam’s choice to turn around and walk/run the opposite way from the police officers in a high crime area was not suspicious. The Court ruled in Wardlow’s favor because, they believed that there was not enough evidence to support the allegations of the police that Sam Wardlow was in an area of high crime. Because, of this the police could not just stop Sam Wardlow for naturally fleeing the