No Reasonable Suspicion to Support Stop Where Police Lacked Evidence of Drug Trafficking

US v. Drakeford: Drakeford was charged with drug and firearm offenses after a stop and patdown by officers in the parking lot of a car stereo store. They had come to be there because, months before, an informant had stated that a man matching Drakeford’s description and associated with a car registered to Drakeford was selling drugs. Police conducted surveillance at Drakeford’s home and that of his girlfriend for months without observing any obvious drug trafficking. This included on alleged sale of drugs, after which officers stopped and searched the “buyer’s” vehicle but found no drugs. At the car stereo store, officers saw Drakeford converse with another man in the parking lot and shake hands twice – the second of which was allegedly a hand-to-hand drug transaction. After Drakeford and the others went inside (followed by police, who didn’t do anything inside), they emerged and Drakeford was patted down, leading to the discovery of drugs. A search warrant was then executed at his girlfriend’s home, where more drugs and a firearm was found. Drakeford unsuccessfully moved to suppress that evidence and entered a conditional guilty plea.

On appeal, the Fourth Circuit reversed the denial of Drakeford’s motion to suppress. Examining the totality of the circumstances, the court concluded that the officers lacked reasonable suspicion to stop and patdown Drakeford. As to the informant, the court noted that they had provided no predictive information (not even Drakeford’s name) and that, although the informant could allegedly contact Drakeford, never used them to try and setup a controlled purchase of drugs. With regard to the second hand shake, the court pointed out that the only thing that made it suspicious was the officer’s conclusory testimony that it was – the officer was later forced to concede that he saw no drugs or money change hands. In addition, while he testified that drug transactions in this locale typically happen inside vehicles, the suspect handshake here took place outside, in a public place, and in front of security cameras. The court also noted that in months of surveilling Drakeford investigators had not developed any additional evidence of drug trafficking.

 

Judge Wynn concurred in the decision, writing about the need for district courts to no be overly deferential to officers’ “training and experience” when evaluating reasonable suspicion “often at the expense of the robust judicial scrutiny that the Fourth Amendment demands.”

Congrats to the Defender office in Western North Carolina on the win!