State v. Moore

The appellate court certified the following issue for our review and resolution: “Is the odor of burnt marijuana, alone, sufficient to provide probable cause to search a defendant’s motor vehicle?” We answer the certified question in the affirmative and hold that the smell of marijuana, alone, by a person qualified to recognize the odor, is sufficient to establish probable cause to search a motor vehicle, pursuant to the automobile exception to the warrant requirement. There need be no other tangible evidence to justify a 'warrantless search of a vehicle.

Sergeant Greene conducted a search…