Facts
- Boston police officers approached a car illegally parked at a fire hydrant in a school zone in an area described as high-crime.
- Benjamin Cruz sat in the passenger seat; another person was in the driver’s seat.
- As officers spoke with the occupants about the parking violation, they detected a faint odor of burnt marijuana from inside the car.
- The driver stated he had smoked marijuana earlier that day; officers noted both occupants appeared nervous.
- Officers ordered the driver and Cruz out of the car and asked Cruz if he had anything on him.
- As Cruz exited, he said he had a “little rock” for himself in his pocket.
- Police seized crack cocaine from Cruz’s person and charged him with Class B possession (including intent to distribute) and a school-zone offense.
- A trial judge suppressed the cocaine and Cruz’s admission; the prosecution sought interlocutory review.
Issues
- Whether, after Massachusetts decriminalized possession of one ounce or less of marijuana, the odor of burnt marijuana alone supplies reasonable suspicion of criminal activity or probable cause sufficient to justify ordering a passenger out of a vehicle.
- Whether the passenger exit order, follow-up inquiry, and seizure violated art. 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, requiring suppression of the admission and cocaine as fruits of an unlawful seizure.
Decision
- The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the suppression order.
- The court held that the odor of burnt marijuana alone no longer provides reasonable suspicion of criminal activity or probable cause to believe a criminal amount of contraband is present.
- Because police lacked additional facts tying Cruz to criminal activity or indicating an objective safety risk, the passenger exit order was unlawful.
- Cruz’s admission and the crack cocaine recovered from his pocket were fruits of the unlawful exit order and were properly suppressed.
Legal Principles
- Under art. 14, police may order a passenger to exit a vehicle only with reasonable suspicion of criminal activity by that passenger or a reasonable belief that safety is at risk.
- Following decriminalization of possession of one ounce or less of marijuana, the odor of burnt marijuana, standing alone, does not establish reasonable suspicion of criminal activity or probable cause of a criminal quantity.
- Officers may conduct a lawful traffic/parking stop and ask limited investigatory questions tied to the observed violation, but expanded intrusions (such as passenger exit orders and de facto searches) require additional, articulable facts of crime or safety concerns.
- Evidence and statements obtained as a direct result of an unlawful seizure must be suppressed as fruits of the illegality.
Conclusion
Because the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana removed the criminal inference from marijuana odor alone, and the record showed no added facts supporting criminal suspicion or safety concerns, the passenger exit order was unconstitutional under art. 14 and the admission and crack cocaine were suppressed.