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Supreme Court upholds warrantless search of apartment based on marijuana smell | The Raw Story: “Police find illegal drugs after busting into wrong apartment complex
The smell of marijuana smoke and sound of evidence being destroyed is enough reason for police to knock down an apartment door and search the place without a warrant, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday.
In an 8-1 decision [PDF], the nation’s highest court said the warrantless search of an apartment in Lexington, Kentucky was legal because of ‘exigent circumstances,’ which permits law enforcement officers to conduct a warrantless search if there is a strong likelihood of destruction of evidence.
In the case Kentucky v. King, uniformed Lexington police officers pursued a suspected drug dealer to an apartment complex. The officers approached an apartment door where they believed the suspect had entered, knocked loudly and announced their presence.
The officers said they could smell marijuana smoke and heard noises consistent with the destruction of evidence after knocking.
The officers then kicked in the apartment door — which turned out to be the wrong apartment — and entered, finding marijuana and powder cocaine in plain sight and finding additional evidence during a second search.
Lexington police officers eventually entered another apartment in the complex where they found the initial target of their investigation.”