Court tosses a drug-related conviction due to illegal search

By Marc Powers

Nevada Daily Mail

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously reinforced a precedent that requires law enforcement officers to let motorists stopped for traffic violations go once the purpose of the stop is completed unless they discover specific evidence of another crime.

In its 6-0 decision, the court overturned Jose Granado's conviction for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. A Missouri state trooper stopped a truck driven by Granado in Pemiscot County for allegedly weaving. The trooper issued Granado a warning and told him he was free to go. The trooper, however, then asked Granado and his cousin, a passenger, for permission to search the vehicle.

After consent was refused, the trooper said the vehicle would be detained until a K-9 unit could be dispatched to check it for illegal drugs.

Subsequently, a drug-sniffing dog led troopers to a duffel bag containing 36 pounds of marijuana and the men were arrested.

The cousin, who is not mentioned by name in the court's opinion, testified at trial that he packed the marijuana without Granado's knowledge.

The men, both Texas residents, were en route to Michigan to see a relative.

Circuit Judge Fred Copeland overruled Granado's motion to suppress the evidence as the product of an illegal search.

The Supreme Court ruled the trooper's action violated the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches.

"The fact that the police may detain a person for a routine traffic stop does not justify indefinite detention, however," the court wrote in its unsigned opinion. "The detention may only last for the time necessary for the officer to conduct a reasonable investigation of the traffic violation."

Since the trooper testified Granado had done nothing to indicate he was committing another crime, the court said the detention of the vehicle and subsequent search were unwarranted.

The court has previously ruled that law enforcement may not use a routine traffic stop as the sole reason for searching vehicles, since such a search is unlikely to produce further evidence of a traffic violation.

The case is State of Missouri vs. Jose M. Granado.