OH4: Defendant’s producing baggie of marijuana didn’t obviate patdown for more; cocaine in buttocks not suppressed

During defendant’s traffic stop, the officer developed reasonable suspicion of drug possession. Crack cocaine was found on the passenger. When defendant driver produced marijuana, the officer was not obliged to end there–he could have believed it was a ploy to distract him from more. A patdown of defendant then produced crack in defendant’s buttocks. State v. Smith, 2013 Ohio 114, 2013 Ohio App. LEXIS 78 (4th Dist. January 11, 2013).*

Smell of burnt marijuana and presence of a large amount of cash in the driver’s pocket was grounds for a search of the trunk of the car under the automobile exception. State v. Price, 2013 Ohio 130, 986 N.E.2d 553 (6th Dist. 2013).*

Defendant was known to carry a gun. Here, he ran into a parked car in a driveway and allegedly hid the gun from the police before they arrived at the accident scene. Police previously received a report he had threatened people with a gun, but a consent search that day did not reveal the gun. A Terry frisk of defendant for a weapon was appropriate on these facts. The officer searched the area and found a gun case and a backpack, and defendant asserted an interest in them. He consented to a search of the gun case revealing an SKS. He did not consent to search of his backpack. A dog was called in and it alerted to the backpack. That was probable cause for a search. United States v. Morrison, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7663 (D. Kan. January 18, 2013).*