Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Wearing Similar Clothing to Person Sought Justified Stop

U.S. v. Goodlett, 2008 WL 2893912 (7/29/08) (unpub'd) - Rather slim evidence establishes reasonable suspicion to stop the defendant. Late at night the complainant thought she saw her ex-husband, who had threatened her life, near her home in violation of a protective order. She told the police he was wearing a brown jacket and a ball cap. For some reason, apparently she did not give a more detailed description. Officers discovered the defendant , who was not the ex-husband, walking about a mile from the complainant's home, near a store where the ex-husband frequented, wearing brown coveralls. Essentially because he wore the same color clothing, [but not the same kind of clothing], there was reasonable.suspicion.