Commonwealth v. Overmyer

In Commonwealth v. Cruz, 459 Mass. 459, 472 (2011) (Cruz), we held that, in the wake of the 2008 ballot initiative decriminalizing possession of one ounce or less of marijuana (2008 initiative), “the odor of burnt marijuana alone cannot reasonably provide suspicion of criminal activity.” This case requires us to resolve a question not explicitly answered in Cruz, supra: whether the smell of unbumt, as opposed to burnt, marijuana suffices to establish probable cause to believe that an automobile contains criminal contraband or evidence of a crime. Here, where police searched the defendant’s…