Tag: search and seizure

Record CBD Seizure in Adair County Ends with Court-Ordered Return to Client

Greenfield, Adair County, Iowa.  The drug defense attorneys at GRL Law prevailed again today by successfully securing a court order for the return of over-the-counter cannabidiol (CBD) products seized by local law enforcement.  The estimated retail value of these CBD products exceeded $3,000, which is believed to be the largest seizure of its kind in Adair County. The original basis for the seizure was the erroneous belief that our client was operating an unlicensed “medical cannabidiol” dispensary under Iowa Code Chapter 124E.  Medical cannabidiol in Iowa contains both concentrated CBD and THC extracted from marijuana and is heavily regulated by […]

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Class D Felony Marijuana Charge Dismissed WIN

New Hampton, Chickasaw County, Iowa.  A traffic stop for speeding by an out-of-state driver on Interstate 35 led to a warrantless probable cause search of the vehicle based on the odor of marijuana.  Deputies located significant quantities of marijuana flower in a glass jar in the passenger compartment and charged our client with both felony and misdemeanor possession under Iowa Code section 124.401.  The class D felony charge was punishable by an indeterminate term of prison of up to 5 years and a fine of $7,500. Both the stop and the search were legal under Iowa law.  However, as a […]

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Discovering the Identity of a Snitch in Marijuana Search Warrant Cases

Cooperating individuals, or snitches, work closely with police in exchange for either money or leniency with their own drug charges.   They are permitted to operate with virtual anonymity in order to set up as many people as possible.  Police and prosecutors also go to great lengths to protect the identity of these assets from being disclosed. This is typically on full display in marijuana search warrant cases.  The snitch provides tips to police to establish a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, which when coupled with other information can provide probable cause to issue a warrant.  Or they might participate instead […]

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Applying the Trespass Doctrine to K9 Sniffs in Marijuana Traffic Stops

In United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400 (2012), the Supreme Court announced that any physical intrusion onto a personal “effect,” such as a vehicle parked on a public street, was a search under the Fourth Amendment when done for the purposes of gathering information. Most attorneys and judges understand Jones to be the “GPS monitoring” case because the F.B.I. joint task force affixed a tracking device to a vehicle driven by a suspected drug trafficker.  The attorneys at GRL Law know, however, that the reach of Jones and its progeny extend far beyond its facts.  We believe it has […]

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Marijuana Smells Like, Well . . . Marijuana

The odor of burnt or raw marijuana, when detected by a law enforcement officer, supplies the requisite probable cause in Iowa to search a vehicle or apply for a warrant to search another’s property. You might think that a district court judge would require proof of some level of training and certification before determining the officer was qualified to distinguish between the odor of marijuana and, say, any other dried plant material? Turns out that’s not the case.  In fact, some basic drug interdiction training coupled with a tautological opinion from the officer that “marijuana smells like marijuana” will typically […]

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Challenging Search Warrants Involving Marijuana Stems and Seeds

Trash rips.  The low-hanging fruit of narcotics investigations.  In terms of evidence gathering for the local drug task force, nothing beats the simplicity of stealing a homeowner’s curbside garbage bags at midnight and spending the rest of the shift rifling through the contents. The goal?  Like any prospector with a newly staked claim, the officers are mining for search warrant gold, often in the form of leftover marijuana stems and seeds. If they hit pay dirt, their lucky strike, coupled with a few other allegations in a search warrant affidavit, will often result in written authorization to fully search the […]

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Iowa Court of Appeals Throws Out Operating While Intoxicated Conviction

Adel, Dallas County, Iowa.  The Iowa Court of Appeals reversed the conviction of GRL Law’s client’s operating while intoxicated conviction, concluding that the Waukee and West Des Moines police officers entrance into the client’s residence was illegal.  At the district court level, the prosecution claimed that the officers were justified in entering the residence without a warrant under the “hot pursuit” doctrine.  However, GRL Law established that the officers were not in immediate pursuit of the client when they entered the house and consequently, that justification was not valid.  On appeal, the prosecution argued that consent was given, justifying the […]

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