Guy v. Wisconsin
Headline: High court declines review of a state ruling that allowed police to frisk all occupants during a home drug-search, leaving Wisconsin’s decision in place while a justice warns the state split needs resolving.
Holding: The Supreme Court denied review, leaving Wisconsin’s ruling that police may frisk occupants during a residential drug-search intact, while a Justice dissented and urged the Court to resolve conflicting state decisions.
- Allows Wisconsin police to frisk occupants during a residential drug-search.
- Maintains a state-by-state split on frisks during home drug searches.
- Creates uncertainty for people present during home searches about being frisked.
Summary
Background
Milwaukee police executed a search warrant for cocaine at a private home. Officers rounded up five people found in the house, handcuffed them, and frisked them for weapons. While patting down one woman, an officer felt a soft bulge in her pocket, asked what it was, and after she said “Find out for [her]self,” the officer reached in and found a baggie containing cocaine. The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld her conviction, saying the patdown fit the Court’s stop-and-frisk rules and that the seizure was allowed under a “plain-touch” idea related to plain view.
Reasoning
The central question was whether officers executing a narcotics warrant in a private home may frisk everyone found there. The Wisconsin court relied on the magistrate’s finding of probable cause to search for trafficking and the view that weapons are often “tools of the trade” for drug dealers, so occupants may be dangerous. Some other state courts have used the same reasoning; others have rejected it by applying an earlier decision that barred frisks based only on mere presence in a public place. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the Wisconsin decision, but a Justice dissented from that denial.
Real world impact
Because the high court refused review, Wisconsin’s rule allowing frisks during residential drug searches remains intact for now. The decision affects people encountered during such searches and officers carrying out warrants in Wisconsin. The broader legal question remains unresolved nationwide because state courts are split and the Supreme Court did not settle the issue.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice White, joined by Justice Thomas, dissented from the denial of review and said the conflict among state courts over this constitutional question is significant and should be resolved by the high court.
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