Terry v. Ohio
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| Terry v. Ohio | ||||||
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 Supreme Court of the United States | ||||||
| Argued December 12, 1967 Decided June 10, 1968 | ||||||
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| Law enforcement officers may stop and frisk someone for weapons if they have a reasonable suspicion that a crime has or is about to take place and the subject is armed and dangerous without violating the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. Supreme Court of Ohio affirmed. | ||||||
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| Laws applied | ||||||
| U.S. Const. amend. IV |
Because of the important interest in protecting the safety of police officers, the Court held that police have the ability to stop someone and do a quick surface search of their outer clothing for weapons. This is allowed if the officer has a reasonable suspicion that a crime has or is about to take place and the person stopped is armed and dangerous. This reasonable suspicion must be based on specific and articulable facts and not merely upon the officer's hunch. This permitted police action has subsequently been referred to in short as a "Terry stop and frisk", or simply a "Terry stop." The Terry standard was later extended to temporary detentions of persons in vehicles, known as traffic stops.
The rationale behind the Supreme Court decision revolves around the understanding that, as the opinion notes, "the exclusionary rule has its limitations". The meaning of the rule is to protect persons from unreasonable searches and seizures aimed at gathering evidence, not searches and seizures for other purposes (like prevention of crime or personal protection of police officers).
The case
On October 31 1963, a Cleveland police detective named Martin McFadden saw two men, John W. Terry and Richard Chilton, standing on a street corner and appearing suspicious. One would walk past a certain store window, stare in, and walk back to the other to confer. This was repeated about a dozen times, and the detective believed they were "casing" the store for a robbery. The officer approached the two, identified himself as a policeman, and asked their names. When they appeared suspicious in their answers, McFadden patted them down for weapons and discovered that both men were armed. He removed their guns and arrested them for carrying concealed weapons. Terry was sentenced to three years in prison.Terry appealed the case, claiming that the guns found should be inadmissible as evidence since his Fourth Amendment rights were violated. The case was eventually appealed to the Supreme Court, where it was ruled that his rights had not been violated.
In an 8-to-1 decision, the Court held that the search undertaken by the officer was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment and that the weapons seized could be introduced into evidence against Terry. Attempting to focus narrowly on the facts of this particular case, the Court found that the officer acted on more than a "hunch" and that "a reasonably prudent man would have been warranted in believing [Terry] was armed and thus presented a threat to the officer's safety while he was investigating his suspicious behavior." The Court found that the searches undertaken were limited in scope and designed to protect the officer's safety incident to the investigation.
Subsequent jurisprudence
Terry set the precedent for Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032 (1983). In an opinion citing Terry written by Justice O'Connor, the Supreme Court ruled that car compartments could be constitutionally searched if an officer had reasonable suspicion.The scope of Terry was extended in the 2004 Supreme Court case Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada, 542 U.S. 177 (2004), which held that police may also demand that the suspect identify himself during a Terry stop without violating the Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.
External links
- [A case summary] from Oyez.org
- [Case syllabus] from Cornell University
- [The entire case] from the Supreme Court
- [Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968)] on Findlaw.com
Case opinions
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