“The totality of the circumstances, including the odor of cannabis, provided law enforcement with probable cause to search.”
By Carolina Journal
The North Carolina Supreme Court has upheld a conviction in a Mecklenburg County case involving a defendant whose arrest was linked to authorities detecting cannabis odor.
Friday’s unanimous decision in State v. Schiene marked the court’s third decision this year upholding arrests linked to cannabis odor.
“This Court recently reaffirmed that ‘we continue to follow our precedents which require examination of the totality of the circumstances to determine whether probable cause exists’ and that ‘the odor of cannabis is one factor that may be considered’ as part of this examination,” wrote Justice Phil Berger Jr., referencing the high court’s May decisions in State v. Dobson and State v. Rowdy.
“This Court has therefore already answered the single question on which review was allowed in this matter,” Berger added. “As further review of this resolved issue would be superfluous, we conclude that discretionary review was improvidently allowed.”
When a court indicates that a review was “improvidently allowed,” it has decided that it never should have taken the case.
The state Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in 2024 against defendant Codie Bruce Schiene.
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