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Ooh, ooh that smell... Can you REALLY smell that smell?

By Marks & Katz, LLC

 Bill of Rights (From public domain.) On April 8, 2008, Virginia's Court of Appeals affirmed a "plain smell/plain feel" search mainly on the basis of the alleged smell of unburnt marijuana confirmed by the feel of a bag of marijuana during a Terry weapons patdown. The case is Bunch v. Va., __ Va. App. _ (April 8, 2008).  When smoked, marijuana reeks. However, when unburnt, it is difficult to detect, despite the often flippant claims of police to the contrary.  Have any of you had success arguing the insufficiency of alleged unburnt marijuana smell to permit a search? Have you found any experts beyond Richard Doty, whose article on the topic is here? Has anybody found beneficial supporting unburnt marijuana smell literature in addition to the foregoing Doty article? Jon Katz...continue to full post

Full post as published by Underdog on April 09, 2008 (boomark / email).