Intro to Criminal Justice

Darius Doss

1/30/2018

Terry Vs. Ohio

Intro to Criminal Justice

Terry Vs. Ohio was a case that was brought to Supreme Court and started on October 31st, 1963, in Cleveland, Ohio. Martin McFadden, a police officer that observed two men outside of a store looking into the window. One of the men walked down the street and back to the window again and then came back to the man he was with. When he came back to the other man he was with, he then talked to him for a bit. The man that was waiting then walked down to the same window and paused and looked into the window. He then came back and talked to the previous man that looked into the window before. A third man met up with the two and talked for a bit then left. After he had left, the two men returned to walking up and down the street looking into the window. McFadden followed the two men and watched when they met up at the corner. He then walked up to the men and identified himself. He asked for their names, then asked for the first man, Terry, to turn around. He did a “Frisk Search” and found a pistol in the inside of Terry’s overcoat. He charged terry and the second man, Chilton, with possession of a concealed weapon, and both sentenced to a three-year term in prison.

In the trial, the defense wanted to suppress the weapons, stating that you have to have probable cause to place a person under arrest. After stating that, he, Defense Attorney, goes on and says, “A stop and frisk is like a warranted search.” The court found that the interrogation was warranted and he, McFadden, had the right to protect himself to pat them down. The court the distinguished between an “Investigatory Stop” and an arrest.

The case then went to the Supreme Court of Ohio, the case was Terry Vs. Ohio. The Arguments on both sides;