By: Derek Hawkins//August 30, 2016//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: United States of America v. Djuane McPhaul
Case No.: 16-1162
Officials: EASTERBROOK and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and YANDLE, District Judge
Focus: Suppression of evidence
Body armor worn by appellant was properly denied suppression as the pat down that revealed the body armor was valid and lawful.
“McPhaul says that even if there was probable cause to arrest him, the body armor was still discovered through an unreasonable search. He argues that his violations were relatively minor so they did not justify the officers’ use of their “felony stop” procedures (including removing McPhaul from the car and patting him down). The argument is fundamentally misplaced. Whether the officers acted in accordance with their departmental policies, or even state law, is irrelevant. Virginia v. Moore, 553 U.S. 164, 176 (2008). Federal constitutional law—the applicable law—is clear. Having lawfully arrested McPhaul, the officers were allowed to pat him down. Id. at 176–78; United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 235 (1973) (“A custodial arrest of a suspect based on probable cause is a reasonable intrusion under the Fourth Amendment; that intrusion being lawful, a search incident to the arrest requires no additional justification.”). There was no Fourth Amendment violation, so the district judge did not err in denying McPhaul’s motion to suppress.”
Affirmed