RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Even though illegal marijuana and legal hemp look and smell the same, criminal prosecution for pot in North Carolina can still be legitimate when the sight or smell contributes to a warrantless search and seizure, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. .
A three-judge panel found no error by the trial judge and the attorney for Derek Edwin Highsmith, who was convicted last year of felony possession of marijuana stemming from a Duplin County traffic stop in 2017. He was sentenced to a maximum of just over four years. in prison
Highsmith unsuccessfully argued at trial that evidence collected after a K-9 alerted officers to possible drugs inside the vehicle he was in should have been suppressed because it was obtained illegally. This is noteworthy, according to the opinion while quoting Highsmith, with legalized hemp now widely available.
Superior Court Judge Henry Stevens IV denied Highsmith’s motion to suppress, saying the K-9’s positive narcotics alert, along with other factors, provided officers with the facts to find probable cause to carry out the research The prosecutor said it was a “sniff-plus K-9 case,” Tuesday’s opinion said.
According to the report, sheriff’s deputies said they saw a vehicle leave a residence after many complaints of narcotics sales.
Officers, who had noticed the vehicle had a broken brake light and crossed the center line, recognized Highsmith, a passenger in the vehicle, from other drug-related activity and called for a K-9 unit. Meanwhile, officers observed a box of ammunition sitting in a back seat and collected other unusual or inconsistent data.
After the dog arrived and alerted officers, a search turned up a plastic bag they believed to be marijuana, as well as $1,200 in cash on Highsmith and a digital scale. He was eventually charged with several charges.
In writing the unanimous opinion, Court of Appeals Judge Lucy Inman said Stevens adequately explained how the marijuana was lawfully seized. Stevens also did not err in failing to tell jurors that Highsmith had to have actual knowledge that the bag contained marijuana and not hemp, Inman wrote.
“Given the foregoing circumstances in which the contraband was found … we cannot conclude that the absence of an actual knowledge instruction had a likely impact on the jury’s verdict,” he added.
Justices John Arrowood and April Wood joined in the opinion, which the state Supreme Court is not bound to hear because of its unanimity.
Gov. Roy Cooper signed legislation in June that made hemp industry products, including CBD, permanently exempt from the state’s controlled substance law. Hemp contains a very low amount of the chemical that gives marijuana users a high.