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STATE v. SHEEHAN

Supreme Court of Louisiana
Jul 2, 1999
767 So. 2d 1 (La. 1999)

Summary

In State v. Sheehan, 99-0725 (La. 7/2/99), 767 So.2d 1, police received complaints that several men standing on a street corner were selling narcotics.

Summary of this case from State v. Isidore

Opinion

No. 99-K-0725.

July 2, 1999.

APPEAL FROM CRIMINAL DISTRICT COURT, ORLEANS PARISH, NO. 388-924, DIVISION "K", ARTHUR HUNTER, J.


Granted. The rulings below on the motion to suppress are reversed, relator's conditional guilty plea under State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584 (La. 1976), is vacated, and this case is remanded to the district court for further proceedings. Even assuming that the police had reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop and that the close association of weapons and narcotics trafficking gave the officers an articulable basis to conduct a self-protective frisk for weapons, see United States v. Trullo, 809 F.2d 108, 113-14 (1st Cir. 1987), the seizure and search of the cigarette pack from relator's shirt pocket, which led to the unfolding of crumpled cellophane at the bottom of the pack and to the discovery of a single rock of cocaine concealed within the cellophane, exceeded the permissible scope of the pat-down frisk sanctioned by Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), and "amounted to the sort of evidentiary search that Terry expressly refused to authorize . . ." Minnesota v. Dickerson, 508 U.S. 366, 378, 113 S.Ct. 2130, 2139, 124 L.Ed.2d 334 (1993).


Summaries of

STATE v. SHEEHAN

Supreme Court of Louisiana
Jul 2, 1999
767 So. 2d 1 (La. 1999)

In State v. Sheehan, 99-0725 (La. 7/2/99), 767 So.2d 1, police received complaints that several men standing on a street corner were selling narcotics.

Summary of this case from State v. Isidore
Case details for

STATE v. SHEEHAN

Case Details

Full title:STATE OF LOUISIANA v. ROBERT SHEEHAN

Court:Supreme Court of Louisiana

Date published: Jul 2, 1999

Citations

767 So. 2d 1 (La. 1999)

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