Kansas Court Declares Plastic Bags Suspicious

theNewspaper ^ | 12/17/2014 | n/a

[Ken H]

Kansas Court of Appeals upholds the search of a vehicle based solely on the presence of a ripped plastic baggie.

The second highest court in Kansas declared last week that anyone driving with a torn plastic baggie is most likely involved in the drug trade and can be searched without a warrant. The state Court of Appeals came to this conclusion in upholding the conviction of Cameron Howard, who was found not with drugs but a lawfully purchased firearm.

On September 15, 2011, Prairie Village Police Officer Chad Loughman pulled Howard over. In the car's cupholder, Officer Loughman spotted a plastic baggie with a rip in the corner, and he noticed that the passenger seat was reclined (Howard's passenger was pregnant). The bag and reclined seat, the officer insisted, provided reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was involved.

"My training and experience with drugs and transportation of illegal drugs, that is a common practice that people wrap marijuana in particular in cellophane baggies and twist the baggies several times to keep it secured," Officer Loughman testified.

The three-judge panel rejected the idea that reclining is suspicious, but it upheld the plastic bag's significance.

"Like one-hitter boxes or tape-wrapped baseballs, people don't often carry baggies with torn corners, and Howard hasn't cited a common, legal use for baggie corners," Judge Steve Leben wrote for the court. "In the absence of another purpose, the torn corner in this case indicates that the baggie had been used to store illegal drugs, even though the police didn't smell marijuana or observe that Howard or his passenger appeared to be under the influence of drugs."

The search for drugs only turned up an AK-47, which Howard bought in Missouri after passing a federal background check. He was in full compliance with federal and state law to buy the weapon, but there was a complication. In 2006 Howard had pleaded guilty to burglary in Missouri. He never served time as the judge suspended his sentence as part of a diversion agreement that kept Howard from being considered a convicted felon -- in Missouri. Howard did not realize that Kansas does not accept this agreement.

The Court of Appeals expanded upon a Kansas Supreme Court decision to declare Howard a convicted felon according to Kansas standards. While the US Supreme Court allows police to be wrong about the law as long as their actions are objectively reasonable, Kansas offers no such leniency to motorists.

"Even if Howard thought he was not a felon, that would not have negated his general intent to possess the firearm," Judge Leben wrote. "The state did not have to prove that Howard knew about Kansas law regarding his felon status, and the evidence that he lawfully purchased the gun (as a nonfelon in Missouri) was neither probative nor material in his case."

The court upheld Howard's new felony conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Drugs are bad for everyone. Of course harmless drugs already are legal. But it is in everyone’s best interest to keep problem drugs illegal.

I have seen lives destroyed by the stuff. You will never sell me on the idea that they are harmless. They are available because greedy people want your money. They do not care about anything else.

No one is better served by turning the FDA into the FA.

People will lie, steal and murder, too. That does not mean we should get rid of our laws against perjury, theft and murder. “They will do it anyway” is no kind of argument.

[raybbr]

Have you ever lived with someone with a drug problem? It is not pleasant and it essentially robs the person of any and all quality of life. Then there is the cost to the lives of others.

Did the "war on drugs" help the person? Save him/her?

[yldstrk]

druggies in the effign White House

[KoRn]

I know it’s all bad, but 75% of the problem is because it’s in the black market.

The people who use the stuff are GOING to do it, regardless of it’s legality. Forcing it into the black market only adds layers to an already bad problem. Not to mention the rights we ALL lose to the government to combat this largely man-made societal problem.

[ExGeeEye]

If you commit burglary with a Kalashnikov-derived firearm (or any long gun), you’re doing it wrong.

It speaks well of your inexperience with burglary that you did not know that.

I have a feeling based on my own (non-burglary, non-felony) experience that his one brush with the law turned him off of ever doing that again.

[sergeantdave]

I’d guess that we’re near the point that if the gutless legislators won’t impeach and remove Nazi judges that it’s the responsibility of citizens to organize roving bands of vigilantes to drag fascist judges into the streets and hang them from lampposts.

[yldstrk]

As an old wizened Missouri lawyer told me once, “There is no law West of the Kaw......”

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

It didn’t hurt. It sometimes helped in that it made it harder to get the drugs.

[Sooth2222]

"Drugs are bad for everyone. Of course harmless drugs already are legal. But it is in everyone’s best interest to keep problem drugs illegal."

Plenty of harmful drugs are legal and available without a prescription! Alcohol and tobacco come to immediate mind!

"Heroin" was a trademark of AG Bayer (as was "Aspirin"). How many drive-by shootings were there on a typical day in the 19th century, when drugs like heroin were purchased legally from drug stores? How many old ladies were mugged on a typical day?

(BTW fret not that Walgreen's will be selling heroin any time soon. Since both sides in this game derive great benefit from the game, the chance that anything about it is going to change is about as close to zero as you can possibly get.)

[Talisker]

"Like one-hitter boxes or tape-wrapped baseballs, people don't often carry baggies with torn corners, and Howard hasn't cited a common, legal use for baggie corners," Judge Steve Leben wrote for the court. "In the absence of another purpose, the torn corner in this case indicates that the baggie had been used to store illegal drugs, even though the police didn't smell marijuana or observe that Howard or his passenger appeared to be under the influence of drugs."

[ExGeeEye]

bookmark (heroin bottle)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

“...Prairie Village Police Officer Chad Loughman pulled Howard over.”

So all this started with moving violation or broken light in addition to a Missouri plate. I suspect it has less to do with the war on drugs and more to do with the large number of home burglaries in Prairie Village by occupants of cars with Missouri plates. They have a bit of a reputation for stopping cars and trucks with Missouri Plates.

[logic101.net]

Ok, lets see if I have this. One state can let you off, but another state where you were never on trial can secretly convict you without a trial or charges?

Is this part of “hope and change”? Or the liberal version of “states rights”?

[Ken H]

People will lie, steal and murder, too. That does not mean we should get rid of our laws against perjury, theft and murder. “They will do it anyway” is no kind of argument.

What does that have to do with ending the War on Drugs and letting states regulate intrastate intoxicants?

Do you want a federal War on Murder, or do you want that to remain a state issue?

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

When it involves more than one state it becomes federal. When the drugs are smuggled in from other countries it is federal. Also the overall list of what is legal and not legal is largely federal. I have no problem with that.

Some murder is federal. It depends. But murder is not commerce, at least not usually.

I am unchangeable on this. I have seen too much.

[Ken H]

When it involves more than one state it becomes federal.

When it crosses state lines against the laws of a state, it is a federal issue. That's different from imposing intrastate prohibitions in violation of the Tenth Amendment.

When the drugs are smuggled in from other countries it is federal.

Yes, and Congress may deal with that under its power to regulate foreign commerce.

Also the overall list of what is legal and not legal is largely federal. I have no problem with that.

So you support the New Deal Commerce Clause at the expense of the Tenth Amendment.

Some murder is federal. It depends. But murder is not commerce, at least not usually.

All Congress has to do is 'find' that a crime has a substantial effect on interstate commerce. They did it with the Violence Against Women Act, guns and with hate crime legislation.

[William Tell]

samtheman said: "And I don’t see any other way to put a stop to this trend than to end the war on drugs."

You have absolutely made my day.

The article describes a man who is going to prison for keeping and bearing arms. It sickens me that there are so many on this forum who don't see where all this is heading.

[vette6387]

“Prairie Village KS cops are very overbearing”

And just where AREN’T They?

[trebb]

And since those who transport these plastic bags usually use an automobile to do it, the act of being in an automobile is also suspicious...

[yldstrk]

Good point