State v. Gibbons

The trial court’s opinion cogently identified the issue in this case:

“The question here is: Was the original stop of the defendant’s car by Officer White justified? If it was, the fact that Officer White smelled the odor of alcohol and burned marijuana emanating from the car when he was talking to the driver through the open window of the car would have justified a warrantless search of the vehicle for both alcoholic beverages and marijuana.

“If the stop of the defendant’s car was not justified, the resulting search was not justified.”

I would hold the stop of defendant’s car to have been…