PLA 3108 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: United States Court Of Appeals For The Seventh Circuit
Document Summary
United states v. mcdonald, 453 f. 3d 958 (7th cir. Facts: illinois police officers michael pearce and timothy lay stopped mcdonald"s car after they received an anonymous tip and believed mcdonald fit the description. Officer pearce noticed a gun on the floor of mcdonald"s car. Mcdonald responded that 5/11-804 did not prohibit his actions and that officer pearce"s mistake of law could not justify a traffic stop. History: mcdonald entered a conditional guilty plea reserving his right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress. Rule: the officers did not have probable cause to stop mcdonald, the district court should have granted his motion to suppress. Reasoning: police can stop a vehicle when they have reasonable justification to trust that the driver violated even a minor traffic law. Reasonable justification exists when an officer sensibly trusts that a driver conferred a traffic offense.