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Aug. 20th, 2004 03:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theweaselkingThe 177 pounds of marijuana found in a car trunk after a routine traffic stop near Rapid City can be used as evidence against the two people in the car, a split state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The driver, Touray Akuba, voluntarily consented to the search by a South Dakota Highway Patrol officer, the high court said in a 3-2 decision. And Kaisha Paul, the woman riding with Akuba, had no standing to challenge Akuba's consent to the search, the justices said.
But the two dissenting justices said the search should be considered an unconstitutional search and seizure. Law officers should be required to have reasonable suspicion of criminal activity before they can request permission to search a vehicle, the dissent said.
In addition, the facts indicate the trooper might have stopped the car Sept. 2, 2002, on Interstate 90 because it was driven by a black man with out-of-state plates, Justice Richard Sabers wrote in his dissent.
Highway Patrol Trooper Matt Oxner stopped the vehicle, a rental car with Oregon license plates, after spotting it traveling 68 mph in a construction zone with a speed limit of 65 mph, according to court records.
The driver, Touray Akuba, voluntarily consented to the search by a South Dakota Highway Patrol officer, the high court said in a 3-2 decision. And Kaisha Paul, the woman riding with Akuba, had no standing to challenge Akuba's consent to the search, the justices said.
But the two dissenting justices said the search should be considered an unconstitutional search and seizure. Law officers should be required to have reasonable suspicion of criminal activity before they can request permission to search a vehicle, the dissent said.
In addition, the facts indicate the trooper might have stopped the car Sept. 2, 2002, on Interstate 90 because it was driven by a black man with out-of-state plates, Justice Richard Sabers wrote in his dissent.
Highway Patrol Trooper Matt Oxner stopped the vehicle, a rental car with Oregon license plates, after spotting it traveling 68 mph in a construction zone with a speed limit of 65 mph, according to court records.