State v. Ene

• Court: Oregon Court of Appeals
• Area(s) of Law: Criminal Procedure
• Date Filed: 06-17-2015
• Case #: A154884
• Judge(s)/Court Below: PER CURIAM; Sercombe, P.J.; Hadlock, J.; & Tookey, J.

Evidence is properly suppressed when it is obtained through an unlawful seizure. A seizure occurs when an officer announces that a defendant's fishing tags will be inspected, that seizure is unlawful if it is not supported by reasonable suspicion.

The State appealed a trial court's judgment in favor of Defendants' joint motion to suppress evidence. Defendant and two co-defendants were fishing off the coast of Newport, when state police officers approached and announced that they would inspect all three co-defendants' halibut fishing tags. This Court determined, in State v. Paskar, (271 Or App 826) and State v. Anton, 271 Or App 860 that the officers had no reasonable suspicion of illegal activity when they announced that they would inspect the codefendants' tags, and that the announcement was a seizure. Accordingly, the trial court found that the seizure was unlawful under Article I, Sec. 9 of the Oregon Constitution. This Court affirmed.

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