Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

OH5: Using dog before purpose of stop completed was valid

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Running a dog around defendant’s car before the purpose of the traffic stop was even complete was not unreasonable. State v. Latona, 2011 Ohio 1253, 2011 Ohio App. LEXIS 1065 (5th Dist. March 16, 2011): [*P27] We also find that at the time Trooper Norman walked his dog around Appellant's vehicle, Trooper Norman had not fulfilled the purpose of the initial stop in that Trooper Norman was waiting for the information to return from the dispatch and he had not cited Appellant for the marked lanes violation. The United States Supreme Court has stated that a dog sniff does not constitute a search. United States v. Place (1982), 462 U.S. 696, 103 S.Ct. 2637, 77 L.Ed.2d 110. Thus, because a dog sniff is not a search, “an officer need not have formed a reasonable suspicion that drug-related activity is occurring in order to request that a drug dog be brought to the scene or to conduct a dog sniff of the vehicle...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 22, 2011 (boomark / email).