The Associated Press
FAIRBANKS, Alaska- The Alaska Supreme Court has dismissed a request for reviewing an appeal issued in a five-year-old Fairbanks case that could have decided when it is appropriate for police to frisk people.
“I’m disappointed,” said Kenneth Rosenstein, a state prosecutor who had asked the state high court to review the Court of Appeals case.
The case before the high court stemmed from an October 2001 incident involving a Fairbanks officer, who is no longer with the police department.
The officer, Jonathan Terland, approached two men in a car parked at a dead end near a school reportedly targeted by vandals, trespassers and burglars, according to court documents.
The driver told Terland they had stopped to check on some whale baleen they had just picked up at Fairbanks International Airport, the court papers say.
The passenger, John Q. Adams, said they had stopped because a cover for a spare tire had come off the vehicle. Adams reportedly appeared nervous and repeatedly placed his hands in and out of his pockets.
Terland frisked Adams and found a metal crack pipe and a plastic bag containing cocaine, according to court documents.
Adams was convicted of fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. The conviction, however, was reversed after Adams appealed, saying the officer had no justification to search him.
Rosenstein asked for review of the appeals court’s decision, arguing that law enforcement officers’ ought to be able to search people and hanging around high crime areas and acting suspiciously.
Adams’ public defender maintained that police officers should have a reason to believe a crime is taking place or that their safety is in peril before frisking them. The attorney, Marcia Holland, has since retired.
Two Alaska Supreme Court justices dissented in the order dismissing Rosenstein’s request. Robert L. Eastaugh and Walter L. Carpeneti wrote that Terland offered at least five reasons for the frisk.
“An officer who has a reasonable belief that the individual with whom he is dealing may be armed and dangerous may conduct a limited search for weapons for his own protection,” Carpeneti wrote.