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Westmoreland v. State

A 50-minute wait for the arrival of a canine unit did not illegally prolong a traffic stop, but only delayed the warrantless search of the vehicle based on probable cause of criminal conduct.

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Susan Lee Westmoreland was charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute after police found methamphetamine during a search of her car after she was stopped for traffic violations. Westmoreland appeals from the trial court’s denial of her pre-trial motion to suppress the methamphetamine alleging that the search violated her Fourth Amendment rights. For the following reasons, we find no Fourth Amendment violation and affirm.

While police were conducting surveillance of a house where the manufacture or sale of methamphetamine was suspected, officers followed a car seen leaving the house at about 1:30 a.m. Observing that the driver was not wearing a seat belt and was improperly weaving, one of the officers stopped the car on the basis of these traffic violations. Westmoreland was the driver. Immediately after the traffic stop was made, an officer from the narcotics division approached the car and smelled what he described as the distinct odor of methamphetamine coming from the interior of the car. The officer testified that he was trained and experienced in recognizing the odor of manufactured methamphetamine and that it was a distinctly recognizable odor. The officers detained Westmoreland at the scene and immediately called for a police canine unit to conduct an open air sniff around the exterior of the car. The canine unit arrived at the scene about 50 minutes after the stop was made and the dog, trained to alert to narcotics, immediately alerted to the presence of contraband in the car. Immediately after the dog alerted, the officers searched the car and found suspected methamphetamine hidden inside the car.

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