State v. Ballard

[¶ 1.] If, after issuing a traffic warning, an officer tells a driver she is free to leave but asks for her consent to search her vehicle for drugs, and she refuses, may the officer then detain the driver to await the use of a drug dog? The defendant argues that the officer had insufficient legal grounds to continue detaining her after she was told she was free to go. The circuit court denied her motion to suppress, but we conclude that it should have been granted and reverse.

A

[¶ 2.] On August 14, 1999, at 11:50 p.m., Lawrence County Deputy Sheriff Michael Shafer observed a car driving partly…