Wright v. State

by
The Supreme Court affirmed the district court's denial of Defendant's motion to suppress, thus affirming Defendant's conviction and sentence, holding that the warrantless detention of Defendant did not violate the Fourth Amendment or Wyo. Const. art. I, 4, 6 and 36.Defendant entered a conditional guilty plea to the charge of possession of marijuana. On appeal, Defendant argued that a police officer unlawfully detained him because he was not violating any laws as he was traveling down the highway and was stopped only pursuant to a temporary roadblock. Defendant asserted that the roadblock was illegal because the officer failed to comply with the statutory requirements set forth in Wyo. Stat. Ann. 7-17-101 through 7-17-103 and that the roadblock otherwise failed to comport with Fourth Amendment standards. The Supreme Court disagreed, holding that the district court properly found that the officer was directing traffic to sure public safety during a rodeo and that Defendant disobeyed the officer's signal to stop. Therefore, the initial stop was legally valid, and the odor of marijuana justified the subsequent search. View "Wright v. State" on Justia Law