COURTS REJECTS ODOR-BASED DRUG BUST

AUSTIN - The smell of marijuana did not give Abilene police officers
probable cause to enter a home, the Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled,
upholding a Taylor County trial judge's suppression of marijuana seized at
a house.

"The odor of marijuana, standing alone, does not authorize a warrantless
search and seizure in a home," wrote Judge Charles Holcomb in a 6-3 opinion
released Wednesday.

"This case is about the right of citizens to be left alone in the privacy
of their homes," wrote Judge Cathy Cochran in a concurring opinion.

Police, acting on an anonymous tip, arrived at the home of Leo and Ian
Steelman, a father and son who work as electricians, on April 21, 1998, and
seized marijuana. The officers peered into the house through a crack in a
window blind and saw four men sitting in a living room but observed no
illegal activity.

According to the court's opinion, the officers then knocked on the front
door, which was opened by Ian Steelman, who stepped outside and closed the
door behind him. The officers smelled the odor of burnt marijuana and
proceeded to burst through the doorway, handcuff the men and place them
under arrest.

When police executed a search warrant about two hours later they found the
marijuana. The Steelmans were charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession.

The court majority said that because Ian Steelman had committed no crime in
the officers' presence, the officers could not enter his home uninvited.
The officers had no idea who was smoking or possessing marijuana, Holcomb
wrote.

The dissenting judges criticized the ruling, the Houston Chronicle reported
Thursday.

Presiding Judge Sharon Keller said that Texas now "establishes as a matter
of law that people may not be arrested for smoking marijuana in their homes
- - as long as they don't do it alone."

Judge Mike Keasler began his dissent with one word: "Amazing."

"Of course, the marijuana did not spontaneously ignite. Somebody inside was
smoking or had smoked it. And in order to burn it, one must possess it,"
Keasler wrote.

"If you knock on a door, someone opens it, and you smell burning marijuana
wafting from inside the house, you must leave the inhabitants to smoke it
in peace," Keasler wrote.

Stan Brown, the Abilene attorney who represented the Steelmans, said his
clients were happy with the ruling and said it could possibly inhibit law
enforcement from knocking on somebody's door in hopes of getting a "sniff
of something."