Ybarra v. Illinois 444 U.S. 85 (1979)
YBARRA v. ILLINOIS 444 U.S. 85 (1979)
Although three dissenting Justices complained that the Supreme Court majority had narrowed the stop-and-frisk rule of terry v. ohio (1968), Justice potter stewart for the Court did not doubt that an officer may pat down a suspect for a concealed weapon. Stewart regarded Terry as an exception to the requirement of probable cause. Here no such cause existed to search a person suspected neither of criminal activity nor of having a weapon. A police officer, having a warrant to search a tavern and its bartender, patted down a bystander, felt no weapon, but removed from his pocket a cigarette pack containing heroin. The Court reversed the man's conviction, because the warrant did not include him, and probable cause to search him was absent.
Leonard W. Levy
(1986)