Court Opinion

ID: 9945089
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-27 01:00:34.158564+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:25:22.025748
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-30363            Document: 58-1         Page: 1      Date Filed: 02/26/2024

           United States Court of Appeals
                for the Fifth Circuit
                                   ____________
                                                                             United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                      Fifth Circuit

                                    No. 23-30363                                    FILED
                                  Summary Calendar                           February 26, 2024
                                  ____________                                 Lyle W. Cayce
                                                                                    Clerk
United States of America,

                                                                    Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                          versus

Marianno Goldsmith,

                                            Defendant—Appellant.
                   ______________________________

                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                      for the Western District of Louisiana
                            USDC No. 3:22-CR-137-1
                   ______________________________

Before Higginbotham, Stewart, and Southwick, Circuit
Judges.
Per Curiam: *
       Marianno Goldsmith appeals his conditional guilty plea conviction for
possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He challenges the
district court’s denial of his motion to suppress.

       _____________________
       *
           This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-30363       Document: 58-1       Page: 2    Date Filed: 02/26/2024

                                 No. 23-30363

       “A warrantless search is presumptively unreasonable unless it falls
within an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement.”
United States v. Guzman, 739 F.3d 241, 245-46 (5th Cir. 2014). If law
enforcement officials have probable cause to believe that a vehicle contains
contraband, a warrantless search is permitted under the “automobile
exception.” United States v. Fields, 456 F.3d 519, 523 (5th Cir. 2006).
Specifically relevant to the circumstances here, smelling the odor of
marijuana emanating from a vehicle provides the requisite probable cause to
search the vehicle. See United States v. Moore, 329 F.3d 399, 405 (5th Cir.
2003); United States v. Ibarra-Sanchez, 199 F.3d 753, 760 (5th Cir. 1999).
       Although Goldsmith alludes to the existence of credible evidence
establishing that the odor emanating from his rental vehicle stemmed from
lawful use of marijuana, the record does not establish that the prior use of
marijuana in his vehicle was lawful. We do not reach his request for an
exception to the rule that the odor of marijuana emanating from a vehicle
supports probable cause for a vehicle search.
       The district court’s judgment is AFFIRMED.

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