# Suspect wants troopers to prove they can sniff out pot



## FruityBud (Jul 8, 2008)

Two North Georgia troopers say they followed their noses to the 10 pounds of marijuana stashed in the trunk of a car they'd stopped on I-75.

Troopers Jeff Adamson and Kevin Turner said they caught a whiff of "raw marijuana" from within Jarmane Vernon Knox's car. This gave them probable cause to search, find the pot and then arrest Knox and his passenger, Derrick Mikes.

But Knox, of Chattanooga, claims that something about the arrest smells funny. Specially trained dogs are often used to sniff out illicit drugs, but is the human nose that sensitive?

The dispute has spawned a novel challenge in a court motion filed in Gordon County Superior Court. It seeks a court order to have the marijuana put back inside a trash bag and placed in the trunk of a random car in the courthouse parking lot. The troopers would then be given the chance to prove they can really smell as well as they say they can.

The motion, filed Knox's lawyer, David West of Marietta, seeks to have the seized marijuana suppressed as evidence from an unlawful search.

"It's ridiculous and totally stretches the possibilities of scientific fact to suggest these officers could smell a bag of raw marijuana that's tied up and enclosed in the trunk," West said. "They're trying to make us believe they can basically be drug dogs in this case."

District Attorney Joseph Campbell declined to comment on the motion. "We'll certainly review it," he said. "We don't talk about pending cases or pending motions."

Adamson, who is on military leave, could not be reached for comment. Turner did not return phone calls Tuesday seeking comment.

One scientific expert said he believes it was not possible for the troopers to have smelled the pot when standing outside the car.

"They can't do it," said Richard Doty, director of the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center's Smell and Taste Center. "They can't smell it, even if there's a lot of marijuana in the back of the car."

In 2004, Doty co-authored a paper, published in a American Psychology-Law Society journal, that cited a study that found the odor of pot from inside a car trunk was not reliably discernible, even by people with an excellent sense of smell. The study tested five men and five women, using marijuana supplied by the New Jersey attorney general's office that was put in a garbage bag and placed in the trunk of a two-door Chevy.

Little research has been conducted on the human capacity to detect marijuana's odor, the paper added. "This dearth of information bears considerable legal consequence, because courts often accept the argument ... that marijuana's odor can always be detected."

Knox's was arrested Nov. 16, 2006, when he and Mikes were driving north through Gordon County.

In his police report, Adamson wrote, he pulled Knox's car over because its license plate light was out and he could not tell whether the car had a tag.

Adamson said when he walked up to the car, he was overwhelmed by the smell of air fresheners and saw two hanging from the rear view mirror.

Knox, the driver, was instructed to step to the rear of the car. Knox initially gave the officer conflicting information about where he was going, prompting Adamson to walk to the passenger side of the car and talk to Mikes. At the side of the car, Adamson wrote, he smelled "raw marijuana."

Mikes said they had just returned from Greenbriar Mall. But Knox said they had been to the Old National Highway Flea Market.

"Based on my knowledge and training, I felt there was criminal behavior afoot," Adamson wrote.

Adamson then returned to his patrol car to run a check on Knox's driver's license and the car's vehicle identification number.

Adamson also called for backup, summoning Turner to the scene. When Turner arrived, "he clearly smelled raw marijuana coming from within the vehicle."

Knox and Mikes admitted to having earlier smoked a marijuana "blunt" but denied there was any pot in the car, the report said.

The officers searched the car and found the marijuana inside a white trash bag in the trunk.

Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter said cases like this are not highly unusual. When he was a drug prosecutor, Porter said, he was involved in cases where he could smell marijuana inside a car.

"These kinds of cases turn on the circumstances of the stop and the credibility of the officers," Porter said. "As for the marijuana, a lot of it depends on how it is packaged and the freshness of it. Sometimes there is a very distinctive odor."

But West, Knox's lawyer, said the court should not take the officers at their word. "I say if these officers really think they are human drug dogs, let's put them to the test," he said.

*hxxp://tinyurl.com/5xk4cp*


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## Megatron (Jul 8, 2008)

FruityBud said:
			
		

> Two North Georgia troopers say they followed their noses to the 10 pounds of marijuana stashed in the trunk of a car they'd stopped on I-75.
> 
> 
> 
> The officers searched the car and found the marijuana inside a white trash bag in the trunk.



Who the fu%@ rolls around with 10 pounds in a trash bag in a trunk...? while smoking a blunt... 

Of course the cops can smell it..! I can't walk around with a half ounce in a zip  lock and not be it known.

All it takes is an out brake light bulb. Use common sense!


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## trillions of atoms (Jul 8, 2008)

thank you megatron...if i could give you gold rep i would.


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## slowmo77 (Jul 8, 2008)

Gordon County sucks!!!!!


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## LowRider (Jul 8, 2008)

just wanted to post about how idiototic this is.  i mean i know i have had a quarter oz in my car in my glove compartment and inside a hat.  the baggie was a zip lock.  guess what with the heat and all it perferatted out and stunk my car up.  it was sitting in my car baking for an hr or so.


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## clanchattan (Jul 8, 2008)

who in they're right mind rolls around with that much brocolli in the trunk. whilst puffin' a white owl? these idiots deserve it. give a cop an iota of probable cause and watch him/her run. it's probably the only thing t.v. has got right. what a pair of doofusses[sp.]. a mod. oughta have this story be part of the terms for this site. if your dumb enough to engage in activity like that.............


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## Tater (Jul 9, 2008)

I hope they make the officers try to sniff it out.  If they put it in a bag and then in the truck of the car and then immediately make the cops try to sniff it out they will lose big time.  Smell needs time to permeate a container but it will given sufficient time.  Put some pot in a baggies, seal it and sniff the outside.  You notice not much smell.  Give it a few hours and sniff it again, the smell should be much more prominent by that time.  So if they hide it and immediately make the cops try to find it it will be in the defendants favour, especially if they do a best out of 3 lol.


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## Megatron (Jul 9, 2008)

Take a trash bag, fill it with 10 pounds of pot, put a twist tie around it,  put it in your trunk. Drive down the road. Think to yourself; "If I only had a blunt to smoke..." Pull over on the side of the road. Open the trunk. Open the bag (which has got to be quite a large bag), take out a handfull of weed (while loosing a bunch in the trunk), roll a blunt. smoke the blunt. forget about the twist tie and the bag (cuz ur stoned and are so happy that you have 10 pounds) get pulled over cuz you r doing 5-6mph over, or headlight out. ooops.. YOU'RE [email protected]@ED...

STONER ESCAPE PLAN
Tell the cops that you would like them to search again after the bag is correctly tied...  Hide the bag. Tell the cops to start lookin again, and run like a Mother [email protected]


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## mojosat (Jul 10, 2008)

These cats are in the military too. So regardless of the civilian outcome, the Army is gonna have their jewels in a vice before it is said and done.

Makes me mad, I went 9 years without while I was in, they should have done the same.


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## tcooper1 (Jul 12, 2008)

clanchattan said:
			
		

> who in they're right mind rolls around with that much brocolli in the trunk. whilst puffin' a white owl? these idiots deserve it. give a cop an iota of probable cause and watch him/her run. it's probably the only thing t.v. has got right. what a pair of doofusses[sp.]. a mod. oughta have this story be part of the terms for this site. if your dumb enough to engage in activity like that.............


 
I agree.They have to be stupid or something....who would drive around like that????/ As I was reading this post all I kept thinking was these guys are stupid.I am in shock that some one could be that carless....I have a card and I dont drive around like that...If you do drive around with greens in your trunck and smoking a cigar...your wanting to get busted....smoke at home or a friends home....Leave your large amount at home....and if you have to transport...dont smoke and drive and make sure all the car lights are working and for petes sake make sure your cars plate is lite up.....
have a great day and stay safe


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## Puffin Afatty (Jul 12, 2008)

*welllll :doh:   I've had folks tell me my car wreaked when I had only been carrying 1/2 oz, double-zip bagged and in my jacket pocket[it pays to carry only nicely cured stash I've found-much less odor and not recognized as easily as weed] not #'s in a trunk. I'd almost bet I could smell it too.  :rofl:
*


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## Puffin Afatty (Jul 12, 2008)

mojosat said:
			
		

> These cats are in the military too. So regardless of the civilian outcome, the Army is gonna have their jewels in a vice before it is said and done.
> 
> Makes me mad, I went 9 years without while I was in, they should have done the same.


 
*Howdy Mojosat :ciao:*

*Where do you find they were military??  I might be too :stoned: stoned.  I see where one of the troopers was on military leave, meaning he was probably doing summer reserve duty at the time of the writing??  *


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## puffnstuff (Jul 15, 2008)

hey it could have been some leaf or cheap mex with no smell. but if it was bud who couldn't smell it?
puff


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## LowRider (Jul 15, 2008)

puffnstuff said:
			
		

> hey it could have been some leaf or cheap mex with no smell. but if it was bud who couldn't smell it?
> puff


 
Yo even crap smells.  i know been smoking that the last few months(not by choice)


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## PUFF MONKEY (Jul 15, 2008)

I once sniffed out a quater pound in my moms house. true story, i just followed my nose


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## benamucc (Jul 15, 2008)

Tater said:
			
		

> I hope they make the officers try to sniff it out. ... especially if they do a best out of 3 lol.


 
Anyone into probability and statistics?  Wonder what the "odds" are for 25 cars, or 50?  How big is the lot??

What about telling your lawyer to rig 2 cars??  Do they get to put leashes on the cops for the test?  "Get em boy."  

Never knew a pig had that kind of snout!!


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