LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – If you park your car at the local Walmart and it smells like weed, police in Michigan can no longer use that reason alone as an excuse to go digging through your glove box. In a 5-1 ruling on Wednesday, in People v Armstrong, the Michigan Supreme Court lit up a long-standing legal precedent in the case People vs. Kazmierczak, declaring that the odor of marijuana no longer constitutes probable cause for a vehicle search.
The Michigan Supreme Court, in its decision, cited the 2018 Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act (MRTMA), which legalized marijuana, to support its ruling.
Smokin’ decision from the bench.
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The majority opinion was written by Justice Megan K. Cavanagh and joined by fellow liberal justices Kyra H. Bolden, Elizabeth M. Welch, and Richard H. Bernstein.
Chief Justice Elizabeth T. Clement, appointed by former Republican Governor Rick Snyder, joined the majority opinion. In contrast, Justice Brian K. Zahra – another Snyder appointee – dissented.
Justice Kimberly A. Thomas did not participate in the decision, as the case was argued before she joined the bench.
Case centers on 2020 Jeep search triggered by marijuana odor.
The case stemmed from a 2020 incident in Detroit where police sniffed out marijuana coming from a parked Jeep Cherokee. That whiff led to a search and the discovery of a firearm, which got one passenger charged with firearm offenses. But now the state’s highest court says that nose-driven search was unconstitutional.
“We agree with the Court of Appeals that in light of the voters’ intent to legalize marijuana usage and possession, the smell of marijuana, standing alone, no longer constitutes probable cause sufficient to support a search for contraband,” wrote Justice Megan Cavanagh in the majority opinion.
She added, “The smell of marijuana might just as likely indicate that the person is in possession of a legal amount of marijuana, recently used marijuana legally or was simply in the presence of someone else who used marijuana.”
Justice Zahra argued in his dissent that the Court should not have overturned Kazmierczak in this case. He said, “True enough, evidence of the mere possession or use of marijuana no longer automatically suggests criminal activity in the same way that it did when we decided Kazmierczak…but marijuana use can still be criminal in numerous situations, particularly in relation to motor vehicles.”
A precedent goes up in smoke.
The decision overturns a 25-year-old precedent from People vs. Kazmierczak, where the faintest whiff of Mary Jane was enough to justify a warrantless search. But with recreational marijuana legalized by voters in 2018, the court ruled it’s time for the law to catch up with the state’s new standard. And to the Michigan Supreme Court: thanks for clearing the air.
