The Odor Of Marijuana, Probable Cause & The Automobile Exception

By Author: Malcom Bloczynski
Total Articles: 4
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The exclusionary rule is a legal doctrine which is applicable in criminal matters. The application of the exclusionary doctrine is to prohibit the prosecution from introducing certain evidence that the court determined was obtained through a violation of a defendant's 4th Amendment Rights as set forth in the US Constitution. A defense lawyer will usually need to submit a document called a motion to suppress evidence if the criminal defense attorney believes that his client's rights were violated by the police & that evidence had been obtained by the police as a result of the violation of Defendant's rights. The trial court will conduct a hearing on the defendant's motion if the trial court believes that defendant's motion was submitted in good faith. The prosecution can not admit suppressed evidence during the trial if the defendant prevails in the motion to suppress hearing.

A law enforcement officer is required to have probable cause in order to search a vehicle. The police are required ...
... to obtain a search warrant in order to conduct a search under normal circumstances. However, there is an exception for automobiles. The automobile exception allows a law enforcement officer to conduct a search of a car and all of the occupants if the police officer has probable cause to suspect that there is something illegal inside the car. The automobile exception is based on the belief that a vehicle is mobile & that if a individual was allowed to leave with the car that the illegal items would likely be removed from the jurisdiction and destroyed.

In the case of State of Florida vs Sarria, the Fourth District Court of Appeal addressed both the exclusionary rule and the automobile exception. The District Court granted the State of Florida's challenge to 2 motions to suppress filed by two defendants who were inside a car wherein marijuana was discovered after a traffic stop. The District Court held the strong odor of raw cannabis coming from the car's interior provided the police officer with probable cause to both arrest the occupants and also conduct a search of the vehicle. The District Court based its opinion on State of Florida vs Williams, 967 So. 2d 941, 941 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007) The Court of Appeal also ruled that once the police officer detected the distinct odor of cannabis, he had probable cause to search the car as well as arrest the defendant; it did not matter if the police officer arrested first & searched later.

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