information:classification
Case background

McFadden arrested Terry and Chilton for suspicion of carrying illegally concealed weapons. Both men were charged and tried in the Ohio Court of Common Pleas for Cuyahoga County. Terry's lawyer filed a motion to suppress the evidence of the discovered pistol, arguing McFadden's frisk had been a violation of Terry's Fourth Amendment rights and that the pistol should be excluded from evidence under the exclusionary rule. The trial judge denied his motion on the basis that the stop-and-frisk was generally presumed legal, and Terry was convicted. He appealed to the Ohio District Court of Appeals, which affirmed his conviction, and then to the Supreme Court of Ohio, which dismissed his appeal. He then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear his case and granted certiorari.