A man was pulled over by law enforcement for speeding; the defendant-appellant
in this case was the passenger in this vehicle. The officer noticed various
indicators that the two might have drugs in their vehicle. He patted them
down and requested a drug canine, which arrived 20 minutes later. The
drug dog found two marijuana pipes, one of which the passenger admitted
ownership of. He was arrested and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia
(R.C. § 2925.14C1). This is a fourth degree misdemeanor offense.
The defendant and the defendant’s mother filed various motions to
move the day of the hearing. The defendant’s appeal was made on three
assignments of error: 1) The state failed to produce evidence in rebuttal,
which should have required discharge, 2) Trial court’s guilty verdict
was in error for denying motion to dismiss, and 3) Trial court’s guilty
verdict was in error for denying appellant’s motion to suppress evidence.
In this drug offense conviction, it was found not error to deny motion
to suppress where there was reasonable suspicion for stop for speeding,
and time elapsed between stop and arrival of drug dog was not unreasonable
since officer was processing defendant’s insurance information.
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