Salt Lake Tribune: Trooper who thought man’s Mormon music was suspicious and searched his car violated Fourth Amendment, judge says

Salt Lake Tribune: Trooper who thought man’s Mormon music was suspicious and searched his car violated Fourth Amendment, judge says by Aubrey Wieber:

A federal judge threw out evidence of methamphetamine seized during a traffic stop on Interstate 15 because the trooper found suspicious — among other things — the driver’s playing of Mormon music.

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When Peeples approached the car, he noticed that the driver had rolled down the front windows and was playing Mormon music from a local radio station. He smelled the pungent scent of an air freshener and noticed the driver’s lip quiver as he spoke. Upon obtaining the driver’s vehicle information, the trooper noticed it was a rental car.
The playing of the music, Peeples believed, “could indicate that [the driver] was overcompensating by attempting to affiliate with the local religious community,” the judge’s ruling states.