Opinion ID: 2597549
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reliability of Drug Dog

Text: [¶ 22] In his second issue, Morgan argues that the drug dog alert was not probable cause to justify a warrantless search of his vehicle because the State did not establish that the dog was reliable. The State argues that Morgan failed to preserve this issue when he entered his conditional plea of guilty in the district court. [¶ 23] In general, when a criminal defendant enters a plea of guilty to a charge, he waives appellate review of all non-jurisdictional issues. Bailey v. State, 12 P.3d 173, 177 (Wyo.2000); Smith v. State, 871 P.2d 186, 188 (Wyo.1994). An exception to this rule can be found in W.R.Cr.P. 11(a)(2), which allows a defendant to plead guilty while reserving the right to seek review on appeal of any specified pretrial motion. Bailey, 12 P.3d at 177. W.R.Cr.P. 11(a)(2) states: (2) Conditional Pleas.  With the approval of the court and the consent of the attorney for the state, a defendant may enter a conditional plea of guilty or nolo contendere, reserving in writing the right, on appeal from the judgment, to seek review of the adverse determination of any specified pretrial motion. A defendant who prevails on appeal shall be allowed to withdraw the plea. [¶ 24] In Bailey, we ruled that a conditional plea of guilty does not provide carte blanche permission for the appellant to present any and all arguments on appeal. 12 P.3d at 177-78. Instead, the appellant may only raise those issues on appeal which were clearly called to the attention of the district court. Id.; see also, Elder v. Jones, 608 P.2d 654, 660 (Wyo.1980). In other words, [w]e will not consider non-jurisdictional issues on appeal unless they have been raised before the lower court with at least a minimum effort to present a cogent legal argument. Bailey, 12 P.3d at 178. [¶ 25] Morgan's motion to suppress and his argument at the suppression hearing focused exclusively on whether or not the dog sniff was a search. He did not address the probable cause issue and did not challenge the State's failure to establish foundation for the reliability of the dog. Under W.R.Cr.P. 11(a)(2) and the teachings of Bailey, when Morgan pled guilty, he only preserved the issues raised in his suppression motion. Consequently, because Morgan did not contest the reliability of the drug dog or raise the probable cause issue in the district court, he waived his right to make those arguments on appeal.