The Tennessee Supreme Court today clarified that an alert from a trained drug-sniffing dog can contribute to law enforcement’s probable cause for a search, despite the dog’s inability to differentiate between illegal marijuana and legal hemp.
On February 16, 2020, during a routine traffic stop in Clarksville, Tennessee, Officer Andrew Trescott smelled a "strong odor" as he approached the vehicle. The driver, Julio Chavez, attributed the smell to three pine tree air fresheners. Officer Trescott noticed a backpack between the feet of passenger Andre JuJuan Lee Green and inquired about it. Both Mr. Chavez and Mr. Green denied ownership of the bag.
Officer Trescott then had a specially trained drug-detecting dog perform a sniff test around the car's exterior. The dog alerted to the vehicle, indicating it detected illegal drugs. Subsequently, Mr. Green admitted he had picked up the backpack from his brother but claimed ignorance of its contents. A search of the backpack revealed one ounce of marijuana, a loaded Smith & Wesson 9mm firearm, Ziploc bags, and a working scale. Mr. Green was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell and possession of a firearm with intent to go armed during a dangerous felony.
Mr. Green filed a motion to suppress evidence obtained from the search before his trial, arguing that since drug-detecting dogs cannot distinguish between marijuana and hemp—legalized in Tennessee in 2019—the dog's alert could not constitute probable cause for the search.
The trial court agreed with Mr. Green's argument and granted his motion to suppress evidence; however, this decision was overturned by the Court of Criminal Appeals on appeal by the State. The appellate court held that an alert from a trained drug-detection dog alone suffices for probable cause or alternatively based on total circumstances observed by law enforcement.
The Tennessee Supreme Court granted Mr. Green's application for permission to appeal further clarifying its earlier ruling in State v. England (2000). The Court reiterated that courts must determine probable cause based on total circumstances rather than solely relying on positive alerts from drug-sniffing dogs.
In its decision regarding Mr. Green’s case, even though hemp legalization made such alerts less certain indicators of illegal activity, probable cause does not require absolute certainty but rather likelihood—a standard still met by drug-sniffing dogs' alerts as part of broader suspicious circumstances observed by officers like Officer Trescott’s observations about other suspicious factors including denial of ownership over significant items within sight.
The Supreme Court thus ruled that law enforcement had sufficient probable cause based on all circumstances considered together making their actions lawful thereby reversing lower court decisions barring use evidences gathered through searches conducted under similar grounds previously deemed unconstitutional granting full validity back towards prosecutorial arguments leveraging seized items critical towards convicting accused individuals within state jurisdictional limits aligned per upheld procedural guidelines governing judicial assessments involving nuanced legislative amendments impacting controlled substance regulations therein contextually evaluated accordingly without prejudice ensuring fair trials unbiased verdicts delivered judiciously across board consistently reflecting core principles underlying American justice system equitably safeguarding rights defendants concurrently protecting societal interests balancing equities objectively adjudicating contested matters fairly resolving disputes conclusively reinforcing public trust integrity maintained robustly throughout institutional frameworks underpinning democratic governance structures foundationally enduringly resilient perpetuating rule law unambiguously paramount unequivocally sustained eternally vigilantly unwavering forthrightly uncompromising
To read the unanimous opinion in State of Tennessee v. Andre JuJuan Lee Green authored by Justice Roger A Page visit opinions section TNCourts.gov
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