As the search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “TODAY” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, continues, former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline says the central legal question surrounding Tuesday night’s traffic stop and detainment of a man in the case comes down to whether law enforcement had “reasonable suspicion,” not probable cause, to briefly detain him for questioning.
Kline said the key to understanding the detention of Carlos Palazuelos lies in the Fourth Amendment, emphasizing during a Thursday appearance on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show that “the Fourth Amendment protects us against unreasonable search and seizure.”
He emphasized that under the Fourth Amendment, courts will examine the “totality of the circumstances” to determine whether the stop constituted a lawful investigative detention or rose to the level of an arrest requiring the higher standard of probable cause.
Kline explained that “detention… can be based on reasonable suspicion” while “an arrest… requires a higher legal standard of probable cause and allows for detention as well as actual confinement until there’s an opportunity for bail.”
He stressed that courts weigh multiple factors, including “the time period in which he was detained, which was a couple of hours,” whether property was taken, and whether the individual was handcuffed.
Image “Carlos Palazuelos” by Matt Finn | Fox News
Although Palazuelos’ phone “was confiscated and searched” and he “was handcuffed,” Kline said those facts “tend towards arrest… but it’s not determinative.”
On the other side of the analysis, Kline said courts will consider what officers were investigating.
In a case involving a missing elderly woman and a potentially violent crime, he noted, officers are afforded greater leeway, particularly when acting to preserve life and prevent ongoing criminal activity.
“The court’s going to balance all of these factors in making a determination whether this was an unlawful arrest where there wasn’t probable cause or a legal detention where the lower standard is met of reasonable suspicion,” he explained.
When asked about the basis for reasonable suspicion in the case, Kline cautioned that he was not on the scene but pointed to several publicly known elements.
“There was the recently released [doorbell] video. There was a claim of similarity,” he pointed out, adding that law enforcement may have additional observations, including “the gait, the walk, the appearances and so forth,” as well as “the area in which he was detained and the nature of the crime.”
Kline said those factors “can give law enforcement the ability to articulate to a court that this was a detention.”
He also noted that “the fact that they released him without charges and the fact that they were diligently investigating during the time that he was detained… tend towards a finding of reasonable suspicion.”
Addressing the possibility of a legal challenge, Kline said that would depend on Palazuelos.
“That’s really up to the person who was detained… whether he wants to claim that he was wrongfully detained.”
Based on reports that Palazuelos had previously delivered in Nancy Guthrie’s neighborhood, Kline said, “with that explanation of the facts, I think they have a pretty strong argument for reasonable suspicion that he was known to have been in the area during the time that the crime had been committed.”
Kline also said investigators strengthened their legal footing by obtaining a warrant to search the residence associated with Palazuelos.
“They were able to get an actual search warrant from a magistrate,” he noted, and “to get that, they would have to have shown probable cause.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
