Pubdate: Wed, 30 Mar 2016
Source: Manteca Bulletin (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Manteca Bulletin
Contact:  http://www.mantecabulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3670

WAS POLICE DOG SNIFF OUTSIDE CONNECTICUT CONDO DOOR LEGAL?

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A Connecticut marijuana bust has turned into a 
potential precedent-setting case on whether apartment and condo 
dwellers have the same rights as house owners when it comes to police 
using drug-sniffing dogs outside their homes.

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday is scheduled to hear arguments 
in the case of Dennis Kono, who was arrested in 2012 after a police 
dog deployed without a warrant in a condo building hallway in Berlin 
smelled marijuana near his door. Berlin police then obtained a search 
warrant for Kono's condo and found several small marijuana plants, 
seeds, growing equipment and firearms.

But a trial court judge dismissed the drug charges against Kono, 
saying the police dog's sniffing outside Kono's door violated his 
expectation of privacy inside his home and the search warrant of his 
condo should not have been approved.

State prosecutors are appealing that ruling to the Supreme Court, 
saying there should be no expectation of privacy in a common hallway 
used by other condo residents.

People who live in freestanding houses already are protected under a 
2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which said police cannot have dogs 
sniff for drugs in areas right outside houses, including porches, 
without a warrant. The majority called those warrantless searches 
trespassing and a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the constitution.

Kono's attorney, Daniel Erwin, wrote in court documents that having 
different rules for homeowners and people who live in apartments and 
condominiums would be unfair and discriminatory, because many poor 
people including minorities live in apartments and condos.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom