APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS PIKE DOPE BUST

A Mississippi Highway patrolman did not violate search and seizure rules
when he found 90 pounds of marijuana in an 18-wheeler during a routine
traffic stop March 11, 2000, the Mississippi Court of Appeals said Tuesday.

The ruling upheld a July 2000 Pike County Circuit Court verdict that sent
truck driver Freddie W. Fultz of Jackson to prison for 30 years and fined
him over $1 million.

Fultz was convicted of unlawful possession of marijuana with intent to
distribute.

State trooper Elmo Townsend of Jackson was in Pike County on a "saturation
detail" when he pulled the rig over at mile marker 17 on northbound I-55
between Magnolia and McComb shortly after midnight, he testified.

What happened next was the fulcrum of Fultz's appeal. He testified during
the Pike County trial he did not consent to a search. In his appeal, he
claimed the trial court was wrong to deny his motion to suppress evidence
of that search.

Townsend testified he asked for consent to search and got it.

Townsend said when he pulled the rig over and Fultz got out, Townsend
smelled marijuana. "It was a very pungent odor, very strong," he said.

He checked Fultz' logbook and found he had been driving longer than the
10-hours-per-day legal limit; he also saw a radar detector on the dash,
which is illegal in a commercial vehicle, he said.

"The radar detector was enough probable cause to open the door to the
truck," the Court of Appeals ruling said.

It also noted Townsend's extensive training in drug enforcement that
enabled him to recognize the smell of unburned marijuana. "This massive
amount was held to be fragrant enough for Trooper Townsend to recognize."

The plastic-wrapped marijuana was in several gym bags and a cardboard box,
and strips of fabric softener were scattered around, apparently to hide the
smell, he said.

Townsend handcuffed Fultz to the steering wheel, called back-up, arrested
Fultz and impounded the truck.