COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Baker, Coleman and Overton 

Argued by Teleconference 

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA 

 MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY 

v. Record No. 0857-97-3 JUDGE SAM W. COLEMAN III 

 SEPTEMBER 9, 1997 

GARY LYNN JONES 

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF WYTHE COUNTY 

J. Colin Campbell, Judge 

 Marla Graff Decker, Assistant Attorney 

General (Richard Cullen, Attorney General, on 

brief), for appellant. 

 No brief or argument for appellee. 

 The defendant, Gary Lynn Jones, filed a motion to suppress 

methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia recovered in a traffic 

stop on the ground that the police, after stopping the vehicle 

for speeding, did not have probable cause to search the vehicle 

in which he was a passenger. The trial court granted the 

defendant's suppression motion, and the Commonwealth appeals that 

ruling pursuant to Code § 19.2-398(2). The Commonwealth contends 

on appeal that the defendant failed to prove he had standing to 

challenge the search of the vehicle or the cooler in which the 

contraband was found and that the trial court erred in finding 

that the police did not have probable cause to conduct the 

search. 

 Assuming without deciding that the defendant had standing to 

 

 *Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not 

designated for publication. 
 2 

challenge the search, we find that the police had probable cause 

to search the vehicle and the cooler. Accordingly, we reverse 

the trial court's ruling and remand the case for further 

proceedings. 

 Because of the mobility of motor vehicles, the United States 

Supreme Court has held that they may be searched without 

obtaining a warrant if a police officer has probable cause to 

believe that the vehicle contains contraband. See United States 

v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 806-08 (1982); Carroll v. United States, 

267 U.S. 132, 149 (1925). "Probable cause exists when the facts 

and circumstances within the arresting officer's knowledge and of 

which he has reasonable trustworthy information are sufficient in 

themselves to warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief 

that an offense [has] been or is being committed." Saunders v. 

Commonwealth, 218 Va. 294, 300, 237 S.E.2d 150, 155 (1977). 

 In this case, we hold that Deputy Murphy had probable cause 

to believe that the vehicle contained contraband and was 

justified in conducting the search. After stopping the van for 

speeding, Deputy Murphy, a motorcycle officer, noticed the odor 

of "burnt" marijuana emanating from the van. See United States 

v. Haley, 669 F.2d 201 (4th Cir. 1982) (holding that probable 

cause to search a vehicle exists when an officer smells marijuana 

inside the vehicle). He asked the defendant, who was in the 

passenger seat, to exit the van. The deputy testified that, 

"based on the fact that I had already smelled . . . marijuana 
 3 

[and] knew a crime had been committed in the vehicle," he patted 

the defendant down and found a "roach clip" in his pocket. 

Deputy Murphy told the defendant it would be in his best interest 

to turn over the marijuana, so the defendant retrieved a "Skoal" 

tobacco box containing a partially burned marijuana cigarette 

from the rear of the van and gave it to the deputy. Considering 

the totality of the circumstances, including the odor of burnt 

marijuana, the defendant's possession of a roach clip and the 

defendant retrieving the "Skoal" container from the van which 

contained marijuana, Deputy Murphy had probable cause to believe 

that a crime was being committed and that the van may contain 

contraband. 

 Although Deputy Murphy initially intended to release the 

defendant on a summons "if nothing else developed," after the 

backup unit arrived, Deputy Murphy searched the van and found 

methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in a cooler behind the 

passenger seat. The defendant acknowledged that the contraband 

in the cooler belonged to him and he was arrested. 

 "The rationale justifying a warrantless search of an 

automobile that is believed to be transporting contraband 

arguably applies with equal force to any movable container that 

is believed to be carrying an illicit substance." Ross, 456 U.S. 

at 809. The cooler, which was in the vehicle, was a container in 

which contraband of the type the deputy was searching for could 

have been located, thus, the deputy was justified in searching 
 4 

the cooler. 

 Accordingly, we reverse the trial court's ruling on the 

suppression motion and remand for further proceedings. 

 Reversed and remanded.