Com. v. Lee, Q., Com. v. Lee, Q. No. 658 EDA 2016

On July 11, 2015, uniformed officers stopped Quonzell Lee after observing him run a stop sign and then flee at high speed; Lee pulled over in a parking lot and was the sole occupant of a rented red Ford Taurus.
Officer Opalski observed rubber bands on Lee’s right hand and a wad of cash in his pocket, and testified Lee was trembling, breathing heavily, and visibly shaking.
Because the stop occurred in an area the officer described as a high-narcotics, high-gun-violence neighborhood, the officer ordered Lee out of the car and conducted a frisk for weapons.
During the frisk the officer felt an object in Lee’s left shorts pocket and immediately recognized it as a bundle of heroin; Lee admitted to having a small amount of drugs and was arrested.
Lee moved to suppress the physical evidence and his statements; the trial court denied the motion, convicted him after a bench trial of PWID and possession, and sentenced him to 2–4 years’ incarceration plus 4 years’ probation; Lee appealed only the denial of the suppression motion.

Issue	Lee's Argument	Commonwealth's Argument	Held
Whether frisk was supported by reasonable suspicion that Lee was armed and dangerous	Frisk was not justified: rubber bands and cash have lawful uses, nervousness can be explained by being stopped, officer gave no specific basis for labeling area "high drug"	Totality of circumstances (flight, high-crime area, nervousness, rubber bands, cash) gave reasonable suspicion to frisk	Court affirmed: frisk was justified under Terry because of the totality of circumstances
Whether seizure of contraband from pocket complied with the "plain feel" doctrine	Officer did not have sufficient experience or specificity to conclude object was immediately identifiable contraband by touch	Officer testified he immediately recognized a bundle of heroin by touch during lawful frisk	Court held the seizure met the Dickerson plain-feel standard as the officer testified the contraband was immediately apparent

Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968) (establishes authority for brief investigatory stops and limited frisk for weapons)
Minnesota v. Dickerson, 508 U.S. 366 (1993) (plain-feel doctrine: nonthreatening contraband touch-seized only if its incriminating nature is immediately apparent)
Commonwealth v. Scarborough, 89 A.3d 679 (Pa. Super. 2014) (explains Terry frisk limits and purpose)
Commonwealth v. Stevenson, 744 A.2d 1261 (Pa. 2000) (discusses plain-feel immediacy requirement)
Commonwealth v. Mack, 953 A.2d 587 (Pa. Super. 2008) (officer need not be certain the suspect is armed; reasonable belief standard)
Commonwealth v. Irvin, 134 A.3d 67 (Pa. Super. 2016) (standard of review for suppression rulings)
In re D.M., 781 A.2d 1161 (Pa. 2001) (flight in a high-crime area can support reasonable suspicion)