ID: Automobile exception applied to suitcases with suspect MJ removed from a Greyhound bus

The automobile exception here was applied to two suitcases on a Greyhound bus that stopped in Boise. The bus driver was adjusting bags after removing bags for those getting off in Boise, and he could smell marijuana coming from a red suitcase. The police were told and a drug dog arrived. The dog alerted on the bag. It was removed from the bus, and the name on the tag showed that the passenger had a second bag which was secured. The two bags were then searched without a warrant. The court applies the automobile exception to the suitcases, even though they’d been removed from the bus and could have been held pending a search warrant. (Notably the court does not cite United States v. Place where detention of the bag at an airport then removal to another airport for a dog sniff was unreasonable. It is seriously problematic to apply the automobile exception to a suitcase removed from an interstate bus. Yes, the bus was going on its way, but the unstated crux of this case is really that the police wanted to collar the passenger ASAP rather than let the bus go with the suitcase owner on it. What about a detention of her with reasonable suspicion? All unmentioned. This needs to be appealed further.) State v. Lovely, 2016 Ida. App. LEXIS 3 (Jan. 6, 2016).