Q: I was arrested at a store where I had stopped to use the restroom and get something to eat. I was detained for loitering
I had an outstanding warrant I just feel like I was illegally detained and was forced to identify myself in Georgia
A:
Unfortunately, whether you were initially detained illegally for the loitering, that will not halt the state's ability to arrest and prosecute you for an active warrant.
Police are allowed to require you to identify yourself if they have reasonable suspicion that you may have committed a crime. It sounds like somebody at the store reported you for the crime of loitering, so that's probably enough for them to at least make inquiry with you, including detaining you and having you identify yourself. Even if it weren't-that fact in itself would not prohibit the state from being able to proceed on the active warrant they ultimately arrested you from, although it might prevent them from being able to use any additional evidence they may have collected during the course of that illegal detention against you.
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