CA6: Hodari D. doesn’t distinguish between accidentally or intentionally dropping contraband; it’s still abandonment

Officers pulled up to stop defendant on the street seeing a gun in his pocket, and he fled, dropping the gun. “Defendant also argues that Hodari D. is inapplicable because he inadvertently dropped his weapon, as opposed to ‘intentionally abandoning’ it as Hodari D. did. Hodari D. makes no such distinction. Quite to the contrary, Hodari D. relied on Hester v. United States, 265 U.S. 57 (1924), which used ‘abandon[]’ to refer to both throwing away and dropping items. Id. at 58; see Hodari D., 499 U.S. at 629 (citing Hester, 265 U.S. at 58). Moreover, this court has previously applied Hodari D. to unintentionally relinquished contraband.” United States v. Phillips, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 3391 (6th Cir. Feb. 22, 2017).

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