Johnson v. State

Following a plea of no contest to the charges of possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia, Curtis Johnson appeals his dispositive motion to suppress. We reverse because the law enforcement officer did not have reasonable suspicion to conduct a Terry1 stop based on an anonymous informant’s tip or probable cause to arrest Johnson based on the discovery of cocaine in a cigarette pack.

In April 1998 Deputy Amsler was dispatched regarding a complaint that a black male in his forties, wearing burgundy pants and a white shirt, was selling narcotics at a certain address. Although the…