Terry vs Ohio Court Case

In October of 1963, a police officer was patrolling a downtown street in Cleveland, Ohio, which he had been patrolling for many years.   He observed two strangers walking back and forth to stop and stare in the same window.   They did this several times when suddenly a third man appeared.   They all followed the same route and continued to look in the store’s windows.   The police officer became very suspicious after watching these three men for awhile.   He began to believe the men were up to committing a robbery and feared that they were armed.   The officer approached the three men and identified himself as a police officer.   He asked the men their names and they answered with a mumble.   The officer patted each of them down on the outside of their clothing.   A pistol was found in two of the men’s jackets and no weapons were found in the third man’s jacket.   Terry was one of the men found with a pistol.   Both of the men were taken into custody where they were to be charged with carrying concealed weapons.   Terry was sentenced to one to three years in jail.   The gun that was confiscated by the police officer would be evidence in the trial, but since this was an illegal search, the gun was not admissible.   However the case first needed to be declared illegal.   The judge felt though that the police officer’s experience was enough reason for the search to take place and it did not violate Terry’s fourth amendment rights. This court case was brought up to the Supreme Court.   The Supreme Court’s main concern was whether Terry’s personal rights were violated. The court decided that the patting of outer clothing is a search.   The judgment in this case is whether the police officer’s actions were unreasonable or not. The court decided that the actions made by the three men was enough for the police officer to reasonably suspect the men to be armed or up to no good.   Terry was found guilty.

The constitutional amendment that made this controversial was the fourth amendment....