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can my charge be suppressed in court?

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babymaccaroni

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Georgia

so i'm driving home from a concert one night and i'm pulled over for speeding 63 in a 45. the cop writes me a ticket and comes back to my car to have me sign it. i ask if i can get a verbal warning or a lesser careless driving offense and she says "NO.". she then asks me if i had smoked marijuana in the car or if there was ever any marijuana in the car (i had smoked 3 hours prior before heading into the concert venue). i say 'no, it's probably just BO. i was just at a concert.'. she asks me if she can search my car and i say 'no.'. she then says '420' into her walkie talkie and tells me that a K9 unit is on it's way and to step out of my car. so i roll the windows up and leave the car running and shut my door. the k9 officer eventually arrives and proceeds to walk around my car twice with the dog. when the k9 officer is by my passenger door with the dog, he asks me if he can open my door to shut off the engine (clearly trying to trick me out of my 4th amendment right). i say 'no.' and he walks around my car a third time with the dog. he then gives the officer that wrote me the ticket and another one that had shown up the go ahead to search my car. they find a bit of marijuana and some rolling papers and i'm immediately hauled off to the jailhouse for the night. my question is this. didn't the the officer that wrote me the speeding ticket have probable cause to search my car if she smelled it initially? and why would a k9 officer ask me if he can open my door when he's got a perfectly good drug dog? was the dog not hitting on anything? i think signals from the dog are subjective and the k9 officer ultimately has the power over that. i don't know, i don't speak dog. thanks in advance for any advice!
 
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tranquility

Senior Member
It's weird how often drug dogs will hit when there are drugs in the car. It's almost like it's not a coincidence.

The police will need to articulate probable cause for the search. That means time in court and proving they had the facts and circumstances necessary to search to a judge or jury. Consent would have been much easer on them and they would have loved having it as that is not as prone to challenge. From your comments, I bet they will prove up probable cause and probably could have searched earlier. By waiting as they did, it just made the search more reasonable. Consent would have taken it an extra step. I don't think the drugs will be supressed. The main thing will be if the officer articulates smelling marijuana after giving the ticket and before the dog arrives. There is your only chance as you should have been free to leave after the business for the original stop was completed.
 
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