State v. Garvin

¶1 — We are asked to determine whether a police officer exceeded the permissible scope of a stop-and-frisk search when he squeezed a man’s pants pocket until he discovered a small packet of methamphetamine. The Court of Appeals affirmed the man’s conviction for one count of possession of methamphetamine, holding the of*245ficer did not exceed the scope of a lawful Terry frisk1 when he squeezed the contents of the man’s coin pocket despite ascertaining there was no weapon there. We reverse the conviction, as the evidence was the product of an unlawful search and should have been suppressed.

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