California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Scott, B261445 (Cal. App. 2015):
Under this well-established standard, the record supports the trial court's denial of defendant's motion. The officers had a reasonable factual basis to initially detain defendant for a traffic violation. When the officers approached defendant in his car, they smelled a strong odor of marijuana emanating from the car. They had also observed a hand-to-hand transaction of packages by defendant, and defendant's passenger counting a stack of money. The totality of circumstances provided reasonable suspicion to detain defendant to confirm or dispel whether defendant had committed a crime. (People v. Conway (1994) 25 Cal.App.4th 385, 390 [" 'possibility that the circumstances are consistent with lawful activity does not render a detention invalid, where the circumstances also raise a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity' "].)
During defendant's interactions with the officers, he admitted he had marijuana in the car and verbally consented to a search. (People v. James (1977) 19 Cal.3d 99, 109-110 [fact that a defendant is detained, under arrest, or handcuffed at the time of giving consent " 'does not per se make a consent to a search involuntary. It is but one of the factors' " to be considered].) The officers' seizure of the baggies plainly visible in defendant's open front shirt pocket also did not offend the Fourth Amendment.
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