Pubdate: Wed, 24 Aug 2016
Source: Manteca Bulletin (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Manteca Bulletin
Contact:  http://www.mantecabulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3670

OUT-OF-STATE LICENSE PLATES DON'T JUSTIFY SEARCH

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Law enforcement officials in Kansas cannot stop 
and search motorists just for having out-of-state license plates from 
states that have legalized marijuana, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a lawsuit filed by a 
Colorado motorist, Peter Vasquez, against two Kansas Highway Patrol 
officers who pulled him over and searched his vehicle as he was 
driving alone at night through Kansas on his way to Maryland.

The KHP officers, Richard Jimerson and Dax Lewis, stopped Vasquez 
when they could not read the temporary tag taped to the inside of the 
car's tinted rear window. The officers contended they were justified 
in searching the vehicle because Vasquez was a citizen of Colorado 
driving on I-70, a "known drug corridor," in a recently purchased, 
older-model car. They said he also seemed nervous.

A divided panel found the officers violated Vasquez's Fourth 
Amendment rights in searching his car without his consent. Nothing 
illegal was found.

Twenty-five states permit marijuana use for medicinal purposes, with 
Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Washington, D.C., 
permitting some recreational use under state law, the court noted.

The officers' reasoning would justify the search and seizure of 
citizens of half of the states in the country, the court said, adding 
it is "wholly improper" to assume someone is more likely to commit a 
crime because of his state of residence.

"Accordingly, it is time to abandon the pretense that state 
citizenship is a permissible basis upon which to justify the 
detention and search of out-of-state motorists, and time to stop the 
practice of detention of motorists for nothing more than an 
out-ofstate license plate," the ruling states.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom