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NH: Smell of burning marijuana can be an exigent circumstance

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

In a principled analysis, the N.H. Supreme Court holds that the smell of burning marijuana, as opposed to the staler smell of burnt marijuana, was exigent circumstances for an entry where the officers were at a motel on a theft investigaiton and came upon the marijuana odor. State v. Rodriguez, 2008 N.H. LEXIS 42 (April 8, 2008): We need not decide here if our exigent circumstances analysis requires a strict differentiation between jailable and nonjailable offenses. We agree with the State, however, that when examining the totality of circumstances behind a finding of exigent circumstances, reliance upon Welsh appears to be out of place in light of McArthur. Further, we tend to agree with those jurisdictions that see in McArthur at least the intimation "that if any bright line exists for warrantless entries into the home, it should be drawn between jailable and nonjailable offenses rather than between felonies and misdemeanors," Cherry v...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on April 10, 2008 (boomark / email).