Maye v. United States, 314 A.3d 1244

Police officers in D.C. observed Mario Maye and a group of friends standing outside in a known high-crime area; the officers saw no illegal activity before approaching.
Officer Kenney noticed Maye adjusting his waistband and saw a pocketknife clipped to his pocket; he asked Maye to remove his hand from his pocket and if he could pat Maye down for weapons, to which Maye consented.
During the pat-down, Officer Kenney discovered a bag of cocaine in Maye’s waistband.
Maye was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and moved to suppress the evidence, alleging an unlawful seizure and involuntary consent.
The trial court denied the motion to suppress, finding Maye voluntarily consented. Maye appealed multiple times; the case was twice remanded for insufficient factual findings regarding the Fourth Amendment claims.
On the third appeal, the trial court reaffirmed that Maye was not seized before consenting and that the search and seizure were constitutionally permissible; Maye appealed again.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Was Maye unlawfully seized before the pat-down?	He was seized when asked to consent; consent invalid	Encounter was consensual; no seizure	No seizure occurred; encounter was consensual
Was Maye’s consent involuntary/coerced?	Consent was coerced by show of authority	Consent was voluntary, clear, and not coerced	Consent was voluntary and valid
Did the search exceed the scope of consent given?	Scope was only for weapons; drugs found unlawfully	"Plain-feel" exception justified seizure of narcotics	Search was within scope; drugs lawfully seized

Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (protective pat-downs must be justified by reasonable suspicion)
Minnesota v. Dickerson, 508 U.S. 366 (plain-feel doctrine: seizure permissible if contraband’s nature is immediately apparent)
Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429 (seizure occurs if a reasonable person would not feel free to leave)
United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544 (factors for determining if a police encounter is a seizure)
Jones v. United States, 154 A.3d 591 (show of authority can constitute seizure)