State v. Barton

Citations

• 2025 Ohio 1904

Syllabus

FOURTH AMENDMENT — MOTION TO SUPPRESS — VEHICLE SEARCH — CANINE SNIFF: The trial court did not err in overruling defendant's motion to suppress evidence recovered from her vehicle because the drug-sniffing canine's instinctive jump that briefly breached the vehicle's window was not an unconstitutional search where the officer did not facilitate, command, or encourage the breach. [But see DISSENT: Because the dog entered the vehicle in an effort to do what it was trained to do — investigate to see if illegal drugs were present — a search occurred, and because the search lacked probable cause and no exceptions to the probable-cause requirement applied, the search was unconstitutional, and therefore, the motion to suppress should have been granted.]