SMELL OF DRUGS GIVES POLICE RIGHT TO SEARCH
WITHOUT WARRANT

MADISON, Wis. - The smell of burning marijuana gives police the
right to enter a home without a search warrant, the state Supreme
Court ruled today.

The decision came in a case in which police were investigating a
report of suspicious people hanging around a Milwaukee apartment
complex that they said was known for drug trade.

A security guard directed police to the apartment of Vanessa Hughes,
where two individuals believed to be involved in drug activity had
entered, court records said.

While they were waiting for backup, Hughes' younger sister opened the
door and officers could smell marijuana. The police pushed open the
door and Hughes consented to a search. Officers said they found
cocaine on Hughes.

The trial court in Milwaukee County refused to suppress the results of
the search and Hughes was convicted of drug possession as a first-time
offender. Hughes appealed to the 1st District Court of Appeals, which
said Hughes' consent to the search came too soon after the officers'
illegal entry to be considered valid.

In today' s 4-3 decision, the state Supreme Court overturned the
appeals court.

Writing for the majority, Justice Diane Sykes said the actions of the
officers were reasonable. The odor of marijuana coming from the
apartment establishes probable cause that police would find contraband
or evidence of a crime, she wrote.

" When the strong smell of marijuana is in the air, there is a fair
probability that marijuana is present, " she wrote.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, joined by Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson
and Justice William Bablitch, dissented from the majority opinion.
Bradley said the warrantless search was unreasonable and violated the
Fourth Amendment.

" The majority should be unwilling to sacrifice the sanctity of the
home and be wary of so easily diluting the constitutionally guaranteed
freedom from warrantless entry, " Bradley wrote.