OH8: Smell of MJ from a car was PC for a full search under the automobile exception

Officers were working an area in “response to numerous drug activity complaints” and saw an unattended white Lexus with the engine running. When they got out, there was a gray Lexus near it. Officers recognized both as having been involved in prior drug arrests. The smell of marijuana was coming from the white Lexus and there was a digital scale on the front seat. Defendant approached with a wad of money sticking out of his pocket. The smell was probable cause to search the vehicle and any containers in it under the automobile exception. State v. Franklin, 2014-Ohio-1422, 2014 Ohio App. LEXIS 1337 (8th Dist. April 3, 2014).

Officers with an arrest warrant go to the home owned by John Humphrey Sr. looking for defendant James Humphrey, a relative. John Sr. tells them James is upstairs, and he consents to an entry, allegedly under the threat of a search warrant if he didn’t let them in. First, there was plenty of probable cause for a search warrant, so that was not an empty threat that vitiates consent. Second, James put nothing at all on to show standing in the house owned by John Sr. United States v. Humphrey, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186770 (W.D. N.Y. July 1, 2013).*

Defendant was badly hurt in a car accident and med-flighted to a hospital. The nurse on the flight testified at the suppression that defendant was coherent and talking en route. At the hospital, an officer talked to defendant about consent to a blood draw, and he changed a consent form from “car or premises” to “blood from self.” The finding of voluntary consent was supported by the record. State v. Hill, 2014-Ohio-1447, 2014 Ohio App. LEXIS 1377 (2d Dist. April 4, 2014).*