Fourth Amendment Research Paper

UNREASONABLE INFERENCES AND THE REDEFINING OF REASONABLE SUSPICION IN UNITED STATES V. ROBINSON

I. INTRODUCTION The Fourth Amendment provides for protection from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government setting up a balance between the duties and interests of the state and those of the private individual. The more serious the intrusion the higher the standard of justification needed ; arrests and seizures need be based on probable cause , while reasonable suspicion is appropriate for searches and detainments which are less intrusive and have a higher governmental interest. One such governmental interest justifying a limited search is Officer safety when confronted with a possible armed individual. However, the limited search …show more content…
Robinson, the standards set forth by the Court since Terry are ignored by the Fourth Circuit in favor of a standard which would ultimately place Law Enforcement Officers in unreasonable danger. The Fourth Circuit undermines these standards in two specific ways, the first of which is the dismissal of the officer’s conclusions based on experience as a “subjective impression”. The second of which is the reinterpreting of the Terry standard that the individual be currently dangerous. Robinson is so doing fails to properly apply the totality of the circumstances test and instead requires officers to make unreasonable inferences regarding those who have been stopped in order to protect what amounts to a brief and minor intrusion under the Fourth …show more content…
The anonymous caller had described the scene in detail, stating that a black male had loaded a firearm, concealed it in his pocket, and driven south on North Mildred Street in a blue green Toyota Camry with a white female driver. Within two to three minutes of the call Officer Hudson observed such a vehicle travelling on North Mildred Street and effected a traffic stop after observing that neither occupant, the white female and black male, were wearing seatbelts. Officer Hudson then approached the female driver of the vehicle and asked her to provide identification with which she complied . Officer Hudson began to ask the male passenger (Robinson) for identification before stopping having realized that he “might have a gun”, and therefore instead asked Robinson to step out of the vehicle. At this time Captain Roberts arrived on the scene to assist and while Robinson was stepping from the vehicle asked if he had any weapons, to which Robinson responded with a “weird look” but did not verbally answer. Roberts then had Robinson place his hands on top of the vehicle and conducted a frisk, at which point the firearm in Robinson’s pocket was discovered. After the frisk Roberts recognized Robinson from previous criminal proceedings and it was confirmed that Robinson was a

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