United States v. Robert Thomas

Robert Thomas was charged by indictment with two counts of illegal possession of firearms in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. (App.) § 1202(a). Defendant filed a motion to suppress seeking the suppression of all evidence seized without warrant. The government response included a declaration of the investigating and arresting officer, Allen Siegel. The district court held an evidentiary hearing in which Officer Sie- gel testified. The motion to suppress was granted at the conclusion of the hearing, and the district court articulated its reasons for granting the motion on the record. The district court later issued its written order granting the motion to suppress on June 19, 1986. The government filed a motion for reconsideration of the order; the district court denied this motion by written order on October 23, 1986. The government appeals both orders. We affirm the district court, but on different grounds. We uphold the initial stop as being based on founded suspicion, but find that the subsequent detention and frisk were not justified by the facts of the case.

I. Factual Background

At 3:59 p.m. on February 6, 1986 a San Francisco storeowner made a phone report to the police that two…