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N.D.Tex.: Alleged innocent driver of a stolen car still failed to show standing

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Rounding up students and herding them to the football field while there was a dog sniff of all student belongings required to be kept inside. This was not a search nor an unreasonable seizure. Doran v. Contoocook Valley Sch. Dist., 2009 DNH 32, 616 F. Supp. 2d 184 (D. H.N. March 25, 2009). [This case was posted as "Not for Publication" when released but it was published.] Lexis overview: Defendants became concerned that there was a serious drug problem at the high school and requested a search using police dogs. Students were told to leave their belongings and escorted to the football field, where they were kept for 90 minutes. The police dogs sniffed the students' belongings in the school. The court determined that the use of drug dogs to sniff the students' belongings did not qualify as a search under the Fourth Amendment because the canine sniffs did not expose noncontraband items that otherwise would remain hidden from public view...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 23, 2009 (boomark / email).