Reasonable Suspicion Definition In Arkansas

The Arkansas Supreme Court has defined "reasonable suspicion" as "suspicion based upon facts or circumstances which give rise to more than a bare, imaginary, or purely conjectural suspicion." Williams v. State, 321 Ark. 344, 348, 902 S.W.2d 767, 769 (1995). Rule 3.1 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure (1999) provides in pertinent part: A law enforcement officer lawfully present in any place may, in the performance of his duties, stop and detain any person who he reasonably suspects is committing, has committed, or is about to commit: (1) a felony, or (2) a misdemeanor involving danger of forcible injury to persons or of appropriation of or damage to property, if such action is reasonably necessary either to obtain or verify the identification of the person or to determine the lawfulness of his conduct. When reviewing a trial court's denial of a motion to suppress, this court makes an independent determination based on the totality of the circumstances, and a trial court's decision will be reversed only if it was clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. See Hill v. State, 64 Ark. App. 31, 39, 977 S.W.2d 234, 238 (1998).