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MD: Dog alert on car gave RS to frisk all occupants

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officer was justified in frisking defendant for weapons after the car he was in was stopped and a drug dog gave a positive alert. Stokeling v. State, 2009 Md. App. LEXIS 196 (December 30, 2009). In response to defendant’s claim that his search incident was invalid under Gant, the government instead relies on reasonable suspicion for the stop, which was found, and probable cause for a search based on the smell of marijuana, which was found. United States v. Awolowo, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121798 (E.D. Tenn. December 14, 2009).* Defendant was speeding. “The fact that the officers were looking for Jesus Huerta to arrest him on an outstanding federal warrant is quite beside the point; so-called pretextual traffic stops are permissible so long as the officer has probable cause to believe that a traffic violation had occurred...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 08, 2010 (boomark / email).