Updates: 2020/01/04 Col Sun-2019/05/21 added; 2020/01/01 Arizona/Arizona v. Gant (2009) added; 2019/12/31 added for New Mexico: ACLU/Sunland Park case-2019; State v. Garcia-2009; State v. Gutierrez-1993; AGO-search-seizure manual; DPS-Search Seizure w/o warrant; IN THIS SECTION     Brief Intro     Arizona     Colorado     New Mexico    Brief Introduction to Search and Seizure “….The search was conducted without warrant, consent, or probable cause, and revealed no contraband or evidence of illegal activity in the vehicle….” from ACLU/Sunland Park, New Mexico below Colorado Sun (2019/05/21)  Did the Colorado Supreme Court just throw the state’s marijuana-legalization regime into question? The chief justice seems to think so. A case about drug-sniffing dogs could turn into a watershed moment in Colorado marijuana law. Or not. Legal experts are split.By John Ingold https://coloradosun.com/2019/05/21/colorado-marijuana-dogs-supreme-court/ Excerpt:  The state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that a sniff of a car by police dogs trained to smell for marijuana in addition to other drugs constitutes a search — which is a big deal that doesn’t really sink in at first.  To search someone’s car, police need evidence of a crime. When the case was argued before the court late last year, lots of the talk focused on whether an alert from a pot-trained dog was enough to give police reason to dig through someone’s car looking for drugs. After all, if possession of small amounts of marijuana is now legal, how does the officer know that the dog is barking because it smells a crime?  But the majority in this case — named People v. McKnight, after a guy whose car was searched in Craig because of the bark of a police dog that was a holdover from pre-legalization days — went further. The justices said simply bringing out a pot-trained dog to sniff around now constitutes a search, in and of itself. As in, it’s something that police have to have evidence in order to do.  “The dog’s sniff arguably intrudes on a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy in lawful activity,” Justice William Hood wrote in the majority’s ruling. “If so, that intrusion must be justified by some degree of particularized suspicion of criminal activity.” https://coloradosun.com/2019/05/21/colorado-marijuana-dogs-supreme-court/ Arizona Wikipedia Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332 (2009), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_v._Gant Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321 (1987 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_v._Hicks Arizona v. Johnson https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/07-1122 Excerpt:  ssues In the course of a minor traffic stop, is the police officer’s reasonable belief that the vehicle’s passenger may be armed and dangerous a sufficient reason to conduct a search of the passenger for a concealed weapon, even where there is no reasonable suspicion of criminal activity? Oral argument: December 9, 2008 Lemon Johnson was a passenger in the back seat of a vehicle stopped for a mandatory insurance suspension. A police officer initiated a conversation with Johnson that was unrelated to the reason for the traffic stop. After asking him to exit the car, the officer conducted a pat-down search of Johnson because she was concerned for her safety upon noticing signs that Johnson may have been affiliated with a gang. During the pat-down search, the officer found a gun, which was used as evidence to convict Johnson at trial. Johnson argues that this evidence should have been suppressed because the search violated his Fourth Amendment rights: the officer had no reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was occurring, and therefore the pat-down search did not meet the standard articulated by Terry v. Ohio. In this case, the State of Arizona argues that police officers should have the right to conduct a pat-down search if there is a reasonable basis to believe the individual is armed and dangerous. Colorado Washington Post:  (also found  in Police Issues/Colorado) (2019/10/30) Police blew up an innocent man’s house to search an armed shoplifter, too bad [regarding destruction of home] court rules. By Meagan Flynn. Note from PF: Please note this was apparently a Walmart shoplifter? Is Walmart getting higher than normal police activity (support and protection) against shoplifters similar to protections against a government entity? https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/30/police-blew-up-an-innocent-mans-house-search-an-armed-shoplifter-too-bad-court- rules/ New Mexico Attorney Generals Office dot gov https://www.nmag.gov/nm-oag-search-seizure-manual.pdf DPS New Mexico http://nmlea.dps.state.nm.us/legal/documents/Search_and_Seizure_without_a_Warrant.pdf Think Progress dot org https://thinkprogress.org/new-mexico-is-the-second-state-to-ban-police-from-seizing-innocent-peoples-property- d9b947c1399#.ku6u8e181 http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2015/04/no-excuses-for-unwarranted-search-seizure-drug-dogs ACLU 2019/03/08 Excerpt: SUNLAND PARK, NM - Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico filed a lawsuit in Third Judicial District Court against the City of Sunland Park, New Mexico, alleging that a Sunland Park police officer unlawfully detained and wrongfully arrested Oscar Gutiérrez Sánchez and his five year old son, both residents of Las Cruces, and subjected them to an illegal search using a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) drug detection dog. The search was conducted without warrant, consent, or probable cause, and revealed no contraband or evidence of illegal activity in the vehicle.  “The only explanation for this unlawful search and arrest is that the officer in question found our client suspicious merely because he was an immigrant and a person of color driving in the vicinity of the border,” said ACLU of New Mexico Legal Director Leon Howard. “Our client was simply trying to drive home with his young son, but ended up terrorized and detained on the side of the highway at night as border patrol drug dogs searched his vehicle.” https://www.aclu-nm.org/en/press-releases/aclu-new-mexico-sues-sunland-park-police-illegal-and-discriminatory-search State v. Garcia 2009 https://law.justia.com/cases/new-mexico/supreme-court/2009/213a.html State v. Gutierrez 1993 https://law.justia.com/cases/new-mexico/supreme-court/1993/19893-0.html

Search and Seizure