For the third time this year the North Carolina Supreme Court has upheld a warrantless search sparked by the odor of cannabis, The Carolina Journal reports. In the State v. Schiene decision, the court referred to two previous cases decided this year as precedent and said because of those decisions it should have never accepted the case to begin with.
“This Court recently reaffirmed that ‘we continue to follow our precedents which require examination of the totality of the circumstances to determine whether probable cause exists’ and that ‘the odor of cannabis is one factor that may be considered’ as part of this examination. … This Court has therefore already answered the single question on which review was allowed in this matter. As further review of this resolved issue would be superfluous, we conclude that discretionary review was improvidently allowed.” — Justice Phil Berger Jr., writing for the court.
In 2024, the state Court of Appeals had also ruled against the defendant, Codie Brice Schiene, in his motion to suppress evidence uncovered in his vehicle during the warrantless search. Benjamin Kill, Schiene’s defense attorney, had argued the odor of cannabis was insufficient for a search because the state allows the sale and use of smokable hemp products, which smell the same as illicit cannabis. Kull had also represented Tyron Lamont Dobson in a separate case and had argued that neither the cannabis odor alone nor the combination of cannabis and cologne justified a warrantless search in Greensboro in 2021 that led to criminal charges against him.
In the Dobson case, Justice Anita Earls wrote in her opinion that the Court of Appeals was correct in its ruling that “officers’ detection of a cover scent provided a basis to support probable cause for a search in addition to their detection of the odor of marijuana.”
In the third case, State v. Rowdy, the high court unanimously determined that the search of Terrell Dewayne Rowdy that led to his arrest in 2020 “was justified by his refusal to pull over for the traffic stop, his presence in a ‘high crime area,’ his prior convictions for narcotics and weapons offenses, the odor of marijuana, and his evasive behavior during questioning.”
“The warrantless search of his automobile was justified by the above factors and the additional discovery of what officers ‘believed to be a marijuana blunt’ during the search of his person,” the opinion stated.
The state Appeals Court first determined that warrantless searches could occur based on the odor of cannabis in the 1980 case State v. Greenwood.
Ganjapreneur: Offering daily insights since 2014, the leading digital business journal for cannabis industry professionals. Subscribe to the newsletter to join our community of over 40,000 ganjapreneurs.
