Arrest Without Probable Cause In Maryland
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A search incident to arrest may only be conducted when two (2) requirements have been met. First, there must have been a lawful custodial arrest. At a minimum, this requires that (1) probable cause exist to believe that the arrestee has committed a crime and (2) an arrest is actually made.
The central tenet of Maryland laws is that searches and seizures require probable cause. This means a law enforcement officer must have a reasonable belief, based on facts and circumstances, that a crime has been or is being committed, or that evidence of a crime will be found in a specific location.
Probable Cause is a standard that is required for warrants, and is listed in the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. It has also become standard to arrest a person without a warrant in most cases. If an officer has probable cause to believe that a person has committed a felony, the officer may arrest.
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things ...
For example, the officer may have been called to a store after reports of a shopper acting suspiciously. If the accused is threatening to rob the store or is in clear possession of a firearm, this would give the officer the required probable cause to make an arrest.
When the arrest is made without a warrant, the validity of the arrest becomes an element of the crime of resisting arrest that the prosecution must prove. If the arrest is lawful, resistance is unlawful. However, Maryland law allows individuals to resist an unlawful arrest, albeit with reasonable force.
Reasonable suspicion means the officer has to have some kind of basis in reason. For example, if the person is speeding, the officer can't simply say “He passed me.” They have to say something along the lines of, “He passed me, so I hit him with my radar gun.
Some courts and scholars have suggested probable cause could, in some circumstances, allow for a fact to be established as true to a standard of less than 51%, but as of August 2019, the United States Supreme Court has never ruled that the quantification of probable cause is anything less than 51%.
The central tenet of Maryland laws is that searches and seizures require probable cause. This means a law enforcement officer must have a reasonable belief, based on facts and circumstances, that a crime has been or is being committed, or that evidence of a crime will be found in a specific location.
