Local News | State Supreme Court narrows probable-cause grounds in pot case | Seattle Times Newspaper
Law-enforcement officers who detect the odor of marijuana from a vehicle can’t arrest all of the occupants, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.In a unanimous ruling, the court determined the smell of pot isn’t enough probable cause to warrant the arrest and search of everyone inside a car. While smell alone may be reason for a vehicle search, the court determined, it doesn’t warrant handcuffing passengers without other supporting evidence.
Defense attorneys on Thursday called it a right-to-privacy victory. Law-enforcement officers say it won’t greatly affect the way they make arrests.
Summing up the state Supreme Court’s decision, Justice Charles W. Johnson wrote: “Our state constitution protects our individual privacy, meaning that we are free from unnecessary police intrusion into our private affairs unless a police officer can clearly associate the crime with the individual.”
Attorney David Zuckerman, who brought the case before the state Supreme Court, said the problem is that arresting someone based solely on the odor of marijuana can affect innocents.
“The smell of marijuana smoke can linger for weeks,” Zuckerman said. “You could have a perfectly innocent citizen get into a car where somebody smoked marijuana at some point … and an officer can just pull you out of a car and book you based on that.”
This may be a good thing to know as you’re all road-tripping up to Hempfest in Seattle. Not that any responsible adults would be smoking marijuana in their cars while driving, of course. And it wouldn’t affect you anyway because if you were to break a law and transport marijuana, you’d at least have the sense enough to place it in a smell-proof container and store it in the trunk, so the state trooper would have nothing to smell. Still, it’s nice to see a privacy-affirming ruling from a Supreme Court from time to time.
