Opinion ID: 901461
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Pipes and Screens as Facts Supporting Probable Cause Determination

Text: [¶ 84.] Finally, even if we were to assume that the Budget Host manager's tip along with the innocuous facts corroborated by Hamann were deficient for a finding of probable cause to search the vehicle under the automobile exception, the Court still fails to consider the last corroborating fact known to Hamann immediately prior to the search of the car. After asking the passengers for their consent to conduct a pat search, but before Teasdale was physically touched by the officer and before there was any indication from Hamann that the stop had concluded and the four men were free to go, Teasdale produced from his coat pocket screens and two unused one-hit pipes. [¶ 85.] Hamann admitted at the suppression hearing that the pipes could be used to smoke tobacco as well as marijuana. But that concession did not negate Hamann's common sense determination at the time of the stop that the report of the smell of marijuana from a reliable citizen informant coupled with the presence of unused drug paraphernalia was sufficient for a common sense decision that there was a fair probability  that marijuana had been ingested by the occupants of Sweedland's car, that the pipes were recently purchased in order to ingest additional quantities of marijuana, and that the additional quantities of marijuana the occupants planned on ingesting were already in the car. [19] [¶ 86.] Based on the facts of this case, the authorities cited, and the common sense inferences made by Hamann, I would uphold the circuit court's conclusion that probable cause to search Sweedland's vehicle existed at the time of the stop.