United States v. Brooks, No. 19-3199 (8th Cir. 2020)
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Defendant was convicted by a jury of one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm; one count of simple possession of methamphetamine; and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a narcotics offense.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress and held that the district court did not err in finding that the officers' search of defendant's person was reasonable. In this case, officers ordered defendant to the ground and patted him down, they knew he had been riding in a stolen vehicle and they knew that the driver had not complied with the officers' demands following the stop. Furthermore, at that point in the tense standoff, officers possessed reasonable suspicion that defendant's possible involvement with the stolen vehicle made him guilty of tampering or car theft, and they were permitted to pat him down for weapons pursuant to Terry v. Ohio. Therefore, the guns and drugs found during the pat-down were admissible.
Court Description: [Melloy, Author, with Colloton and Kelly, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. The search of defendant's person was reasonable as officers knew, at the time they ordered him to the ground and patted him down, that he had been riding in a stolen vehicle with a driver who had failed to comply with officers' directions following a traffic stop; the officers possessed a reasonable suspicion that defendant's possible involvement with the stolen vehicle made him guilty of tampering or car theft, and they were permitted, under Terry, to pat him down for weapons, and the gun and drugs found during the pat-down were admissible.
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