RALEIGH, NC (AP) — Although illegal marijuana and legal hemp look and smell the same, criminal marijuana prosecution 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 attorney for Derek Edwin Highsmith, who was convicted last year of felony marijuana possession stemming from a 2017 Duplin County traffic stop. 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 she was in should have been suppressed because it was obtained illegally. That’s noteworthy, according to opinion quoting Highsmith, with legalized hemp now widely available.
Superior Court Judge Henry Stevens IV denied Highsmith’s suppression motion, saying the K-9’s positive narcotics alert, along with other factors, provided officers with the facts to find probable cause to conduct the search. The prosecutor called it a “K-9 sniff-plus case,” Tuesday’s opinion said.
Sheriff’s deputies said they saw a vehicle drive out of a residence after many complaints about narcotics being sold there, according to the opinion.
Officers, who noted 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 a K-9 unit. Meanwhile, officers noticed an ammunition box in a back seat and gathered other unusual or inconsistent information.
After the dog arrived and alerted officers, the search turned up a plastic bag they believed to be marijuana, as well as $1,200 in Highsmith cash and a digital scale. He was eventually indicted on multiple charges.
Writing the unanimous opinion, Court of Appeals Judge Lucy Inman said Stevens adequately explained how the marijuana was legally seized. Stevens was also wrong in not telling the jury that Highsmith needed to have actual knowledge that the bag contained marijuana and not hemp, Inman wrote.
“Given the above circumstances under 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 the opinion, which the state Supreme Court is not required to hear due to its unanimity.
Governor Roy Cooper signed a law 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 the high.
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