United States v. Windom

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Defendant-Appellant Samuel Windom entered a conditional guilty plea to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Windom appealed the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress the firearm, arguing that officers used unreasonable “high risk” traffic stop procedures to investigate a “completed misdemeanor,” Windom’s flashing of a firearm in public, and the unreasonable nature of the force involved in the stop elevated it from an investigative detention to an arrest without probable cause. The Tenth Circuit concluded the precautionary measures of force that the officers employed in seizing Windom were reasonable, and did not cause his seizure to rise to the level of a de facto arrest, which would have required a showing of probable cause. Consequently, the seizure here was lawful. View "United States v. Windom" on Justia Law