D.D.C.: Officers’ testimony about smell of PCP was too equivocal to be reliable

The officers’ testimony about allegedly smelling PCP when they stopped defendant was too equivocal through the hearing to be reliable. A patdown of defendant off that alleged smell produced a gun in his pocket. Defendant’s alleged consent to the patdown wasn’t voluntary. United States v. Smith, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14781 (D.D.C. Jan. 30, 2019).*

A package arriving at JFK from overseas was properly subjected to a border search. Then, the product of that search could become the basis of an anticipatory warrant. Defendant conflates the probable cause requirement and anticipatory warrants where the probable cause would come into existence with the triggering event. The affidavit for the search warrant shows probable cause for the anticipatory warrant and the cell phones. United States v. Lora, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13292 (M.D. Pa. Jan. 28, 2019).*