Page 115 - Original 2020 Legal Guide By Jack Ryan

Task: Plain Touch Seizure

Minnesota v. Dickerson, 508 U.S. 366 (1993).

An officer who is conducting a lawful frisk for weapons and feels an

item that he or she immediately recognizes as contraband or

evidence may then seize the item notwithstanding the fact that the

officer knows it is not a weapon, subject to the following limitations:

• The officer must be conducting a lawful frisk (one supported by

reasonable suspicion to believe the subject has a weapon).

• The officer’s immediate recognition must amount to probable cause

to believe the item is evidence or contraband.

• The officer must immediately recognize the item as evidence or

contraband without squeezing or manipulating the item.

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