State v. Maryland

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

COLEMAN, J.

This is a warrantless search and seizure case in which defendant contends that he was selected for questioning by the police because of his race. The trial court declined to address that claim in denying defendant’s motion to suppress evidence filed pursuant to Rule 3:5-7, and a divided Appellate Division affirmed. We reverse.

We consider the question whether defendant was selected for questioning because of his race to be critical. We hold that although a field inquiry may be conducted when the police have not observed the individual…