Terry Patdown Upheld By Court of Appeals

State v. Shine, No. 06-1078 (Iowa Ct. App. June 13, 2007)

Shine was identified as a person who had drugs in his possession. Shine refused to be searched but consented to a patdown, which revealed the presence of an object in Shine's shirt pocket. Shine informed the officer that it was a pocket knife, and when retrieved it turned out to be a marijuana pipe. Shine was arrested for possession of paraphernalia, searched, and was found to be in possession of marijuana.

Shine moved to suppress alleging an illegal search without probable cause, and the district court upheld his motion. The state sought further review.

The Court of Appeals found that there was reasonable cause to detain Shine based on the identification made by the witness. The court further held that a Terry patdown was permissible in this case. Shine's own identification of the foreign object as a knife supplied ample justification for the officer to reach in and seize what later turned out to be a pipe.