{"id":2724,"date":"2009-01-11T18:09:32","date_gmt":"2008-11-30T12:14:55","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-30T12:14:55","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=2724","title":{"rendered":"CA1: Asking defendant to step out of motel room was not a seizure; even if it was, it was justified by officer safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asking the defendant to step out of a motel room so he could be questioned about a crime was not a seizure. United States v. Parker<\/a>, 549 F.3d 5 (1st Cir. 2008):<\/p>\n

The closest precedent in our circuit is United States v. Beaudoin, 362 F.3d 60, 69-70 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 543 U.S. 979, 125 S. Ct. 484, 160 L. Ed. 2d 357 (2004), vacated on other grounds sub. nom. Champagne v. United States, 543 U.S. 1102, 125 S. Ct. 1025, 160 L. Ed. 2d 1009 (2005). In Beaudoin, we held (albeit by a divided vote) that no warrant was required for a reasonable police request that the suspect step out of his hotel room. We deemed the intrusion on privacy of such a direction to be real but modest, especially when weighed against the risk to police officers, and stressed the analogy to the Terry stop cases allowing investigative stops on the street.<\/p>\n

Here, as in Beaudoin, the men inside the room were reasonably suspected of involvement in a felony (the threatening of Davis) and of possessing a gun. Indeed, although the crime at issue was less serious than in Beaudoin, the evidence pointing to Parker’s involvement in it and the likelihood of his having a weapon were much stronger, as in Beaudoin police were acting merely on an anonymous tip. Id. at 62. Summoning Parker and the other men to step outside the hotel room was thus justified as a means of protecting the police while they pursued the investigation and of securing the weapon and other possible evidence when they decided to seek a warrant.<\/p>\n

Having the men outside the room, the police could perhaps have arrested them on the spot. Davis’ statement provided probable cause, not mere suspicion, to arrest the men who had threatened her; and the tracing of the truck to the motel and the desk clerk’s identification point to the men in Room 419 as the culprits. But absent exigent circumstances, Samboy, 433 F.3d at 158, or consent, Luciano, 329 F.3d at 7, the police still needed a warrant to search the room for physical evidence. So, reasonably enough they awaited the warrant and the confirmation provided by the gun, drugs and money before making formal arrests.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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