United States v. Ellison
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
462 F.3d 557 (2006)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Curtis Ellison (defendant) was in a van idling in a parking lot’s fire lane, where no parking was allowed. A police officer began to monitor the van and ran the van’s license-plate number through his department’s computer database. The database stated that the van belonged to Ellison, who had an outstanding warrant for a felony. After the van left the parking lot, the officer pulled over the van and conducted a search of Ellison. The officer found two firearms during the search. Ellison was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Ellison moved to suppress the firearms evidence on the ground that the officer’s running the license plate through the database constituted an illegal search under the Fourth Amendment. The district court found that the van was not parked illegally and, thus, that the officer lacked probable cause to run the license plate through the database. As a result, the district court granted Ellison’s motion to suppress the firearms evidence. The prosecution (plaintiff) appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Gibbons, J.)
Dissent (Moore, J.)
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