Assume that the traffic stop on the student’s return trip had in fact been a valid one. Further assume that an officer legitimately smells marijuana. Evaluate all of the statements below and determine which is true

Question

Three college students are travelling from upstate New York to Florida for spring break. In Buford, Georgia, they come to a stop at DUI checkpoint. An officer approaches the driver’s side window, determines that the driver is sober, and tells the college students to head on their way. However, a second officer, suspicious of the out-of-state license plate, attaches a GPS locator to the car’s rear bumper just before the students drive off. Police conduct surveillance on the car’s movements for the next week, and after determining that the car went to Florida—movements that the officers deem consistent with drug trafficking—the Buford police determine that they will stop this vehicle the next time it enters their jurisdiction. Sure enough, as the car enters Buford on the college student’s trip home after a week in Florida, it is pulled over by an officer. As the driver hands the officer a driver’s license, the officer says that he smells marijuana in the car and initiates a search of the vehicle. Inside a zipped backpack on the backseat, he finds contraband and makes an arrest.

a. The officer could conduct a search of the vehicle because the odor of marijuana provides the necessary probable cause, but could not search a closed backpack.
b. The officer could search a closed backpack sitting on the backseat because the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Ross permits a comprehensive search of a vehicle’s contents when probable cause exists.
c. After smelling marijuana, the officer needs to call a judge to obtain a warrant before search any part of the vehicle, as declared in the Supreme Court’s decision in Kyllo v. United States
d. All statements are false.

Answer 1

Answer: B