I wanted to get some opinions or maybe some pertinant case law on this incident.
Officers conducted a lawful traffic stop on a vehicle with three occupants in it. In plain view, 2 marijuana joints were seen in the vehicle's open ashtray. Occupants were removed from the vehicle and terry frisked. They were not arrested at this point (not cuffed). A canine, which is proven to be reliable, was called to do a canine sniff of the vehicle. An exterior sniff was conducted and the canine alerted. An interior sniff was then conducted and the canine alerted to a backpack that was under the drivers seat. Inside the backpack a substantial amount of marijuana was found. Subsequently the driver was arrested for the marijuana.
Our DA's office says the canine sniff and search was illegal. WTF!!!
Now, I live and work in a state where federal case law means absolutely nothing and I also in one of the most corrupt counties in the US (Current Judges scandal that was featured on 20/20). In addition to that, our DA's office does not like to have to work for any conviction, unless its a DUI.
Does anyone have case law that would support this as a good search? Again, federal case law means nothing. (When turning over federal case law to an ADA before, I was told "don't bother with that, its federal case law and we can't use it".)
Officers conducted a lawful traffic stop on a vehicle with three occupants in it. In plain view, 2 marijuana joints were seen in the vehicle's open ashtray. Occupants were removed from the vehicle and terry frisked. They were not arrested at this point (not cuffed). A canine, which is proven to be reliable, was called to do a canine sniff of the vehicle. An exterior sniff was conducted and the canine alerted. An interior sniff was then conducted and the canine alerted to a backpack that was under the drivers seat. Inside the backpack a substantial amount of marijuana was found. Subsequently the driver was arrested for the marijuana.
Our DA's office says the canine sniff and search was illegal. WTF!!!
Now, I live and work in a state where federal case law means absolutely nothing and I also in one of the most corrupt counties in the US (Current Judges scandal that was featured on 20/20). In addition to that, our DA's office does not like to have to work for any conviction, unless its a DUI.
Does anyone have case law that would support this as a good search? Again, federal case law means nothing. (When turning over federal case law to an ADA before, I was told "don't bother with that, its federal case law and we can't use it".)
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