Terry Vs. Ohio

Terry Vs. Ohio

1. OHIO TRIAL COURT

   • rejected the prosecution theory that the guns had been seized during a search incident to a lawful arrest, the court denied the motion to suppress and admitted the weapons into evidence on the ground that the officer had cause to believe that petitioner and Chilton were acting suspiciously, that their interrogation was warranted, and that the officer, for his own protection, had the right to pat down their outer clothing having reasonable cause to believe that they might be armed.
     • The court distinguished between an investigatory "stop" and an arrest, and between a "frisk" of the outer clothing for weapons and a full-blown search for evidence of crime. Petitioner and Chilton were found guilty,
       • Intermediate Appellate Court
         • Affirmed that both Terry and Chilton should have been found guilty

2. OHIO STATE SUPREME COURT

   • State Supreme Court dismissed the appeal on the ground that "no substantial constitutional question" was involved.

3. A detective in Clevland Ohio named McFadden was patrolling downtown when he noticed two man named Terry and Chilton were walking back and forth from one particular store and a corner were they would meet up.

   • Officer McFadden witnessed a third man coming to meet up with both Terry and Chilton at there normal meet up
     • McFadden believed that the men were casing the place and asked them to turn around and being to pat them down
       • While patting the men down McFadden found a revolver in their trench coats
         • He removed petitioner's overcoat, took out a revolver, and ordered the three to face the wall with their hands raised. He patted down the outer clothing of Chilton and Katz and seized a revolver from Chilton's outside overcoat pocket. He did not put his hands under the outer garments of Katz (since he discovered nothing in his pat-down which might have been a weapon), or under petitioner's or Chilton's outer garments until he felt the guns. The three were taken to the police station. Petitioner and Chilton were charged with carrying concealed weapons.