CA4: Jardines didn’t bar officers from following burnt marijuana smell to def’s apartment

Two officers on bike patrol rode through an apartment complex and smelled burning marijuana. They followed their noses and sniffed at defendant’s place and knocked. The district court erred in suppressing because it read too much into Jardines. The officers did no more than any passersby could have done. “Just as law enforcement officers are not compelled to ‘shield their eyes’ from plainly visible criminal activity, Ciaraolo, 476 U.S. at 213, Officers Lyons and Marshall were not required to plug their noses as they passed Mitchell’s apartment. Because the officers’ sniff outside Mitchell’s apartment was not a search, we must reverse.” United States v. Mitchell, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 7765 (4th Cir. Mar. 28, 2018).

Defendant lived in the house with his sister-in-law for two months prior to the search, and he got mail there. He had standing. People v. Sweat, 2018 NY Slip Op 01786, 2018 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2127 (4th Dept. Mar. 16, 2018).*