United States v. Thomas Benjamin Shipp and Robert Lee Parker

This is an investigatory stop case. A state officer on a routine patrol stopped a pickup truck on a state highway between Palestine and Tucker, Texas. The officer later found that automobile tires in the truckbed had been stolen from an interstate shipment, and the defendants were subsequently charged with theft of the tires. The government appeals from the district court’s order granting a motion to suppress evidence obtained from the stop. Because we agree that the circumstances did not justify an investigatory stop, we affirm the district court’s decision.

An investigatory stop is justified…