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PA: Telling defendant he was free to go not determinative; continuation of questioning was unreasonable expectation of the stop

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Continuation of questioning after defendant being told he was free to leave was an unreasonable continuance of the stop because no person would think he would be free to leave. Commonwealth v. Moyer, 2008 PA Super 173, 2008 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2322 (August 1, 2008): [*P17] The Court made a critical observation: when an individual has been subjected to a valid detention and the police continue to engage that person in conversation, the citizen, having been in official detention, is less likely to understand that he has the right to refuse to answer questions or a search. Furthermore, while acknowledging the importance of the ninth factor, the Court stressed that "conferral of the 'free-to-go' advice is, itself not a reason to forego a totality assessment" and therefore does not constitute a controlling factor in assessing whether a person would actually credit a police indication that he was free to leave...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 25, 2008 (boomark / email).