Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Ohio

Here�s what happened: (All names are changed in this story to protect anonymity)

My two best friends, Michael and Amanda were sitting in Michael�s car with me. We had just picked up Amanda and had pulled over in her neighborhood (a normal large suburban neighborhood). Amanda was sitting in the front seat, Michael was driving, and I was in the back seat. Michael and I had smoked pot earlier that night, so we were high at this time, but still very functional. Michael and I had bought numerous items of paraphernalia together to increase the efficiency of our marijuana when we smoked it. We had a bong, a grinder, a slide which was in a separate Tupperware container (we always take everything apart and seal all applicable items in Tupperware after we smoke to maintain sanity and prevent smell), and a bowl (a marijuana pipe).

After we pulled over the car, I retrieved the bowl from the bag so Amanda could quickly smoke. A few seconds after I handed it to her, we saw a car approaching from the front. As we let it pass, we noticed there was another car behind it. This second car began to slow down. All of the sudden, a spot light illuminated from the front of the car. Immediately, we realized it was a cop. It was too late to make any defensive maneuvers such as trying to hide the bag with all of the paraphernalia and about 4 grams of pot. Amanda hid the bowl under her seat real quick. The officer got out of his car and approached the passenger side of our car. He informed us that there had been reports of egging in the area (odd since it was only 10:30PM) and asked for our id�s. We informed him that we had not been egging. After about a minute, a second police car arrived on scene. The officer of that car got out and began discussing with the first officer. The second officer began shining his flashlight in our vehicle and spotted our bag, which was sitting right next to me on the back seat. I heard him say something about my bag to the other officer. The second officer approached the driver�s window of our car.

The second officer asked me what was in the bag. I replied, saying, �It�s just my school bag.� At this point, I had established that the bag was my property. The officer then requested that I open the bag so he could look inside of it. I refused, stating he had no probable cause to search my bag. After roughly five minutes of back and forth arguing between us, he gave up trying to get me to open the bag. He went to the passenger side and asked Amanda to step out of the car. He interrogated her, and she admitted that there was marijuana inside the bag, which is why I was not cooperating. The officer then informed us that they were requesting a K-9 unit to search the car.

After waiting on scene another 30 minutes, the K-9 finally arrived. They requested that we all exited the vehicle. The officer opened both doors of the car (it was a 2-door) and began letting the dog mag a lap around the car. The dog alerted on nothing while circling the car. The officer then brought the dog to the driver�s side of the car and made a noise to the dog. Following him making the noise, the dog entered the car. By this time, the dog was out of our sight, but the officer informed us that the dog did alert on the bag, so he was searching the bag and the vehicle.

After conducting the search, the officer found nothing else and informed me that I was being charged with one count of a controlled substance and one count of paraphilia (they did give me a break on that one since they could have charged me for every count of paraphernalia in the bag).

Here are my legal questions:

� Did the cops have the legal right to request the K-9 unit to the scene after suspicion of my bag, or is this a violation of my 4th Amendment right protecting from unwarranted search?

� Can the officer open the doors when he conducts a search using a K-9? I assumed that once the doors were open, it was a full search of the vehicle, and the officer had no probable cause to search the vehicle before the dog �alerted� to my bag.

� Did the officer have the legal right to hold us on scene for more than an hour and a half (from the point of the officer arriving on scene until the search was completed) or did this violate our 5th Amendment rights protecting us to due process?


Asked on 2/01/12, 7:15 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Sauter Cloppert, Latanick, Sauter & Washburn

This reads like a law school exam question (I suspect it might be. Regardless, I'm trying to stay current on my Criminal Procedure knowledge), so here are your answers:

1. Your compound question doesn't apply, since the officer had probable cause to suspect that the vehicle contained contraband or evidence of either (1) the egging (perhaps your car matched the suspect car's description) or (2) drug use. Its highly likely that you smelled of or exhibited visual signs of marijuana use. Given that the office had probable cause to believe the vehicle contained evidence of a crime, marijuana or otherwise the warrant requirement to the 4th Amendment does not apply under the well-recognized "Automobile Exception" (Carroll v. U.S.), and therefore, the officer didn't even need to bother calling in a K-9 Unit. He could have simply ordered you out of the car and searched the passenger compartment (included any and all containers or bags found within that might contain the object (eggs or marijuana) for which he is searching).

2. Since the officer could have searched the entire interior of the car under the "Automobile Exception" or under the "Plain View Exception" to the 4th Amendment Warrant Requirement, doors most certainly can be opened, given that the entire interior can be lawfully searched.

3. There is no rigid time limit for the length of an investigative stop. A court will consider the purpose of the stop, the reasonableness of the length of time and the means of the investigation to determine if the stop was too long.

Alternatively, if the officer had no probable cause, the answers to your questions are (1) yes, but if lacking in probable cause, the drug sniff could take no more time than the time necessary to issue a ticket and conduct ordinary inquiries incident to such a stop. (2) I cannot find any higher authority on this question to determine if opening the doors was lawful, and (3) same answer as above for (3).

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Answered on 2/09/12, 1:02 pm


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