Justices reverse drug conviction

[TransitJohn]

By BILL LUCKETT
Star-Tribune capital bureau Tuesday, September 14, 2004




label: SUPREME COURT

CHEYENNE -- If a police officer stops a driver, issues a ticket or a warning and returns the driver's paperwork, it is illegal for the officer to keep the driver in the patrol car and ask questions unrelated to the traffic stop, according to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

That was the analysis the court used to declare a 2002 detention of an Illinois man and search of his car unconstitutional in a ruling the court issued Monday.

As a result, Alan Campbell will be allowed to withdraw his plea of guilty to marijuana possession with intent to deliver the drug, and the more than 8 pounds of marijuana seized by Wyoming State Trooper David Chatfield from Campbell's car cannot be used as evidence in the case against Campbell.

Chatfield stopped Campbell on Oct. 5, 2002, on Interstate 80 in Laramie County, because a dispatcher indicated that Campbell's vehicle registration had expired.

Campbell produced a handwritten Illinois vehicle registration card, and Chatfield gave him a "driver contact" form. Before giving him the document, Chatfield asked Campbell if he had any marijuana in his vehicle, and Campbell said no.

Then, the trooper handed Campbell the form and asked if he would consent to a drug dog sniff of his vehicle. Campbell consented to the drug dog search, which revealed the large quantity of marijuana.
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