“This Court, and our State Supreme Court, have repeatedly held the smell of marijuana alone is sufficient to warrant a search of the object or the area that it comes from.”
By Kelan Lyons, NC Newsline
The North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed a decision by a trial judge to suppress evidence obtained by police during a traffic check, despite legal questions still unanswered about whether the smell of pot is enough to justify a search of a vehicle.
An officer with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department pulled over Antonio Demont Springs on May 17, 2021 because he thought Springs’s license plate looked suspicious. According to the ruling, Springs appeared nervous as the officer approached his vehicle. He shook his hands as he struggled to find the paperwork that he had handed the officer.
Springs was driving on a suspended license, according to the police. Also, the license plate was not genuine. Springs was asked about the marijuana smell he detected, but Springs claimed he had not smoked in his car.
Springs replied, “I got my car from my brother.” “That’s most likely why.”
Springs was asked to exit the vehicle by the officer. The officer opened the Crown Royal bag to find a digital scale, “a green leafy substance” according to the officer’s opinion, as well as two baggies containing white powder and pill bags.
Springs was indicted later for possession of drug paraphernalia and trafficking in illegal drugs, as well as possession with the intent to deliver or sell a controlled substance. Springs filed a motion for suppression of the evidence found by the officer, claiming that law enforcement did not have probable cause to search his Crown Royal bag and car. He argued that hemp was legal in North Carolina and is “indistinguishable” from marijuana when it comes to odor and appearance. Therefore, the mere smell of marijuana is not enough for police to search North Carolinians cars.
He cited a memo from the State Bureau of Investigation which explained that industrial hemp was the same plant species as marijuana but contained lower levels of psychoactive chemicals found in cannabis. The memo states that legalizing hemp complicates the job of law enforcement because it’s difficult for them to test substances and determine if they are marijuana or hemp.
The trial court agreed that the odor of marijuana was not enough to justify a search because hemp is legal.
The Court of Appeals disagreed.
“This Court and the State Supreme Court have repeatedly found that the odor alone of marijuana is sufficient to warrant a search of the object or the area where the odor originates,” wrote Toby Hampson a Democrat. He was joined by Jefferson Griffin a Republican.
Hampson acknowledged a Court of Appeals Decision from the year 2021, which stated that “the legal issues raised by recent legalization of hemp are yet to be analyzed” by the appellate court of this state.
This analysis will need to be delayed. Hampson didn’t rule on whether an officer seeing or smelling pot was enough to warrant a search of a vehicle. In Springs’s case, the officer had plenty of other probable causes. Springs said that his friend may have smoked marijuana in the car. He had a fake license plate and an invalid driver’s license.
“Thus, the Officer was aware of several suspicious circumstances–including the odor of marijuana–at the time of the search. Hampson concluded that, in the light of all the circumstances, there was probable cause for the officer to search the Crown Royal bag. The trial court erred by granting the Defendant’s Motion to Suppress evidence that was a result of the search.
Hampson scolded state lawyers before reaching this conclusion for not following the Rules of Appellate Procedure, since they “didn’t include any statement of reasons for appellate review”.
Hampson said that the mistakes of the state were so serious that the court could have dismissed the appeal. However, it decided to accept the case as “it raises enough merit.”
Hampson wrote that, “given these substantial and gross violations of Rules of Appellate Procedure,” it was the court’s decision to order the state pay the costs of the appeal.
Judge Hunter Murphy (a Republican) agreed with the analysis of his colleagues but did not agree that the Court of Appeals was the right place to take on the case.
“I would not accept this opportunity to perform the State’s work for it, and I would dismiss its appeal,” Murphy wrote.
The original publication of this story was by NC Newsline.
Photo elements are courtesy of Rawpixel, and Philip Steffan.
The first time Marijuana Moment published the post North Carolina Appeals Court Confronts Whether the Smell of Marijuana Establishes a Probable Case for Search.
