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VA: Use of drug dog at safety checkpoint was valid under Caballes

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Dog sniff of a vehicle at a safety checkpoint was valid where the vehicle was already validly stopped and was not extended. Wright v. State, 2008 Va. App. LEXIS 347 (July 8, 2008): However, Wright also contends that the subsequent search of her vehicle, resulting from the trained narcotics-detection dog's alert, violated her Fourth Amendment rights. Illinois v. Caballes, 543 U.S. 405, 125 S. Ct. 834, 160 L. Ed. 2d 842 (2005), governs our inquiry. In Caballes, an officer lawfully stopped a vehicle for speeding. Id. at 406. While the vehicle was pulled over and the officer was writing a ticket, a second officer arrived at the scene and walked around the vehicle with his trained narcotics-detection dog. Id. The dog alerted on the vehicle, wherein the officers' subsequent search revealed marijuana...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 31, 2008 (boomark / email).