AMHERST — A search warrant Amherst police sought for a Bay Road warehouse, which led to seven men being arrested on marijuana trafficking charges, was properly obtained, even though it was based in part on an odor of unburnt marijuana coming from the building, the state’s Supreme Judicial Court has ruled.
In the decision issued Aug. 12, the court determined that the smell of unburnt cannabis was only a partial reason for obtaining the search warrant, and that officers who responded Oct. 18, 2017, to the 1210 Bay Road site had otherwise probable cause for seeking the warrant.
“The search warrant affidavit established probable cause to search the warehouse for evidence of marijuana cultivation,” Justice Frank M. Gaziano wrote in the ruling.
The ruling was related to an incident in which Amherst Police and members of the Northwestern District Attorney’s Anti-Crime Task Force arrested seven men, each on felony charges of marijuana trafficking over 50 pounds, for activity taking place in the 11,000-square-foot warehouse.
The search warrant specifically aimed to “search and seize marijuana and any evidence related to the cultivation of marijuana.”
Recovered at the warehouse were currency, cultivation equipment and 55 pounds of marijuana.
The Supreme Judicial Court’s involvement in the case came after one of the men arrested, Gregory W. Long of South Hadley, whose case has been in Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown, asked a judge to suppress all evidence related to the search warrant. Long contended that the smell of marijuana alone didn’t indicate that illegal activity was occurring.
Gaziano noted that changes in state laws that have allowed marijuana use for medical and recreational purposes have forced law enforcement to go beyond just detecting a marijuana odor: “The ability of the police to rely upon the odor of marijuana, burnt or unburnt, as evidence of criminal conduct” has been diminished by initiative petitions, he wrote.
“To obtain a search warrant for an offense involving marijuana, the police are required to establish that they are investigating illegal marijuana possession or illegal marijuana cultivation, not merely the possession, consumption or cultivation of marijuana,” Gaziano wrote.
The case began when Amherst officers Dominic Corsetti and Lindsay Carroll, on early morning patrol, observed suspicious vehicles outside the warehouse. They ran the license plates through an electronic database and found a series of marijuana-related convictions for the owner. The officers also noticed surveillance cameras installed on the building, new exhaust ventilation pipes and other ventilation vents covered up.
When Detective Gregory Wise, the narcotics officer arrived, he noticed an “overwhelming odor of unburnt marijuana.”
In previous cases, the Supreme Judicial Court has written that the strength of the odor of marijuana is subjective and isn’t proof that significant quantities of the class D substance are present. But in this case, the “overwhelming odor” was just one element of the request for the search warrant.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
