Odor of Burnt Marijuana Provided Probable Cause to Search Defendant and Vehicle

The Third Department determined that, upon a valid traffic stop, the odor of burnt marijuana detected by officers Denise and Knoetgen provided probable cause for the search of the vehicle and its occupants:

As for the propriety of the … pat down and/or search of defendant, “it is well established that [t]he odor of marihuana emanating from a vehicle, when detected by an officer qualified by training and experience to recognize it, is sufficient to constitute probable cause to search a vehicle and its occupants” … . Here, both Denise and Knoetgen testified that they smelled burnt marihuana emanating from defendant’s clothing and the vehicle in which he was riding. Even accepting that Denise’s experience in detecting this distinctive odor was not sufficiently developed at the suppression hearing, we are satisfied that Knoetgen, as a drug recognition expert and a K-9 drug detection officer, possessed the requisite training and experience to do so. Further, and as noted previously, Knoetgen testified that the driver of the vehicle admitted that he and defendant had smoked marihuana prior to being pulled over for the underlying traffic violation … . As the circumstances presented and the observations made by the troopers provided probable cause for Knoetgen’s pat down/search of defendant, we discern no basis upon which to suppress the drugs subsequently seized from defendant’s pant leg. People v Rasul, 2014 NY Slip Op 07378, 3rd Dept 10-30-14