Is View of Marijuana Cigar in Car Probable Cause For Police to Search Pockets of Vehicle Occupant?
Where State Law Bars Custodial Arrest for a Minor Misdemeanor State of Ohio v. Adrian L. Johnson, Case no. 2009-1552 10th District Court of Appeals (Franklin County) ISSUE: When police officers approaching a vacant parked car smell burnt marijuana and observe a marijuana “blunt” (cigar) in plain view on the front seat console, and multiple persons later emerge from a nearby store and begin to enter the car, do officers have probable cause to conduct a warrantless search the pockets of an apparent back-seat passenger who moves away from the car when police approach and speak to the driver? BACKGROUND: In a 2003 decision, State v. Brown, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that although a prior U.S. Supreme Court decision had held that evidence obtained through the arrest and search of a person suspected only of committing a minor misdemeanor was not barred by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the search and seizure provision of the Ohio Constitution, Article I, Section 14, prov
