163308P.pdf   07/27/2017  United States  v.  Joseph Lewis
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  16-3308
   U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City   
   [PUBLISHED] [Benton, Author, with Smith, Chief Judge, and Gruender, 
   Circuit Judge] 
   Criminal case - Criminal law. Defendant failed to show he had a reasonable 
   expectation of privacy in a work area of the tattoo shop where he worked, 
   and the police officers' entrance into the work area did not violate 
   defendant's Fourth Amendment rights; when the officers seized defendant's 
   handgun, which was on a shelf in his work area, they did not know he was a 
   felon and the incriminating character of the weapon was not immediately 
   apparent; as a result, the officer could not seize the handgun under the 
   plain-view exception to warrantless searches; however, given that the 
   government has a legitimate interest in officer safety and that temporary 
   seizure of the weapons was less intrusive than a Terry frisk, the officers 
   could temporarily seize the handgun, which was in plain view, so long as a 
   reasonably prudent person in the circumstances would be warranted in the 
   belief that his or her safety or that of others was in danger; applying 
   this standard, under these circumstances, a reasonable officer could not 
   draw specific reasonable inferences from the facts to justify seizure of 
   the gun, as the officers did not suspect defendant or any customer of 
   wrongdoing and defendant did not engage in any behavior indicating he 
   posed a threat to the officers; as a result, the government failed to 
   carry its burden to show that the initial warrantless seizure of the 
   handgun was permitted.