Background
An officer in South Carolina stopped Melvin Maxwell after observing his car traveling slowly in the passing lane while other vehicles passed on the right. The officer smelled marijuana at the vehicle, and when he attempted to proceed, Maxwell sped away, later crashed, and fled on foot before being detained. Officers then searched the vehicle’s trunk and found a firearm, marijuana, and cocaine. Maxwell was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and with cocaine and crack cocaine possession. He moved to suppress the evidence, lost that motion, entered a conditional plea preserving the suppression issue, and later received concurrent prison terms along with supervised release, including revocation time for a prior case.
The court’s reasoning
The court said suppression was properly denied because the district court’s factual finding that Maxwell committed a left-lane traffic violation was supported by the officer’s testimony and body-worn-camera footage, and observing a traffic violation justified the stop. On the trunk search, the court relied on the uncontested smell of marijuana, which it said can alone establish probable cause to search a vehicle, and added that Maxwell’s attempted flight by car and on foot further contributed to probable cause under the totality of the circumstances. On sentencing, the court applied deferential abuse-of-discretion review and rejected Maxwell’s procedural objections. It said the district court was not required to robotically tick through every Section 3553(a) factor, especially for a within-Guidelines sentence, and the record showed the judge considered those factors and focused on Maxwell’s criminal history and continued offending. The panel also found the district court adequately explained why it rejected Maxwell’s request to avoid supervised release, directly addressing his concern about travel restrictions and expressing confidence that probation officers would act fairly if he complied with conditions.
the odor of marijuana alone can satisfy the probable cause requirement to search a vehicle or baggage.
United States v. Scheetz, 293 F.3d 175, 184 (4th Cir. 2002)
What it means going forward
In this case, the conviction and sentence remain in place. The decision reinforces that a documented traffic violation can support a stop, marijuana odor can establish probable cause to search a vehicle, and a district court’s concise but case-specific explanation may be enough to sustain a within-Guidelines sentence and supervised-release term on appeal.