Terry v. Ohio
392 U.S. 1 · 1968-06-10
Stop and frisk: a limited search on reasonable suspicion, short of probable cause.
Edition: U. S. Reports, bound volume
Source: U. S. Reports, volume 392, at 1 (Library of Congress) · transcription: Caselaw Access Project
Voices: Mr. Chief Justice Warren delivered the opinion of the Court. · Mr. Justice Harlan, concurring. · Mr. Justice White, concurring. · Mr. Justice Douglas-, dissenting.
This case presents serious questions concerning the role of the Fourth Amendment in the confrontation on the street between the citizen and the policeman investigating suspicious circumstances.
Petitioner Terry was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon and sentenced to the statutorily prescribed term of one to three years in the penitentiary. Following the denial of a pretrial motion to suppress, the prosecution introduced in evidence two revolvers and a number of bullets seized from Terry and a codefendant, Richard Chilton, by Cleveland Police Detective Martin McFadden. At the hearing on the motion to suppress this evidence, Officer McFadden testified that while he was patrolling in plain clothes in downtown Cleveland at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon of October 31, 1963,…Read it in the reading room ›