 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Vassar v. State10/29/2004
na Loucks was "personally using," but argued that the officer did not have probable cause to search the entire vehicle. Id. at 210. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, citing United States v. Burnett, 791 F.2d 64 (6th Cir. 1986), rejected Loucks' "personal use" argument and concluded that the officer in Loucks had probable cause under the United States Supreme Court's decision in Ross to search Loucks' entire vehicle. Loucks, 806 F.2d at 210-11. See also United States v. Colonna, 360 F.3d 1169, 1173-75 (10th Cir. 2004) and United States v. Turner, 119 F.3d 18, 20-21 (D.C. Cir. 1997) (rejecting "personal use" argument that smell of burnt marijuana emanating from car, torn cigar paper, and ziploc bag of green weed material on floor behind driver's seat did not give officer probable cause to search entire vehicle, and finding that the evidence supported probable cause that defendant "might have hidden additional drugs not necessary for his current consumption in areas out of plain sight, including the trunk of the car").
In Burnett, 791 F.2d at 65-66, an officer observed a plastic bag containing a green, leafy substance on a vehicle's floorboard, and subsequently discovered 245 grams of cocaine in a champagne box in the vehicle's trunk. On appeal, Burnett argued that "two ounces of marijuana found on the floorboard of the car indicates that the appellant is only a casual user of narcotics as opposed to a dealer" and the officer therefore did not have probable cause to search the entire vehicle. Id. at 67.
The appellant is asking this Court to burden the police with having to make another judgment call -- whether a certain amount of marijuana, cocaine, or other drug found on a person or in some container makes the person a casual user or a dealer. Determining the existence of probable cause to search on the amount of contraband initially found is a line which need not and should not be drawn. Probable cause has never been defined quantitatively and the appellant's theory that "smaller is not necessarily bigger" must be rejected. From the long history of litigated drug cases, it is evident that neither the casual user nor the dealer fits any precise description or category....
Under the Ross rationale, the search of the appellant's trunk, resulting in the discovery of the champagne box, was lawful and justified.... The marijuana package on the floorboard of the vehicle was in plain view and was legally seized by the officer. Once the contraband was found, [the officer] had every right to search the passenger area of the car, the trunk, and any and all containers which might conceal contraband.
Id. at 67-68 (footnote omitted).
Searches of this nature, of course, are limited in scope to areas or containers which may contain the object of the search. "Drug evidence can readily be concealed in small containers...." Moore, 900 P.2d at 71 (search of wallet). In the instant case, Trooper Guenther proceeded to search luggage that was ejected from the appellant's vehicle. In that luggage, Trooper Guenther discovered clandestine methamphetamine lab equipment. The appellant does not argue that the luggage at issue was incapable of concealing marijuana or paraphernalia associated with the use of marijuana. The appellant does argue that law enforcement exceeded the permissible scope of the search by searching the "folder" wherein the elaborate methamphetamine recipe was discovered. While witnesses characterized the item as a "folder," it is apparent from a photograph of the item that the "folder" was a zippered case containing what appear to be several magazines, the approximately 8 1/2" x 11" methamphetamine recipe and a similarly-sized notepad. We conclude that this it
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Wyoming DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|