Pubdate: Wed, 24 Aug 2016
Source: Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette (Fayetteville, AR)
Copyright: 2016 Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC.
Contact: http://www.nwaonline.com/submit/letter/
Website: http://www.nwaonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/828

COURT BARS SEARCHES OVER 'POT'-STATE TAGS

WICHITA, Kan. - 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 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 resident 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. The court ruled that the officers' reasoning would 
justify the search and seizure of residents of half of the states in 
the country, the court said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom