US Virgin Islands court rejects a vague cannabis-smell stop

A US Virgin Islands judge suppressed cannabis and firearm evidence from Victor Cannergeiter’s vehicle on 29 September 2016. The court said police had failed to show a sufficiently specific reason to stop his truck, even though cannabis smell could still justify a properly supported stop under the territory’s law.^[1]

A roadside operation led to a search

Officers stopped Cannergeiter’s red pickup during an operation in Frederiksted, St. Croix, in December 2015. At the later hearing, an officer testified that another officer had announced that he smelled marijuana and directed them to stop the truck.^[1]

Police subsequently searched the vehicle and found approximately 140 grams of cannabis and a firearm with ammunition. Prosecutors brought drug and weapons charges. Cannergeiter asked the court to exclude the evidence because the initial stop had violated his constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.^[1]

The earlier reform had left possession unlawful

The territory had decriminalised possession of an ounce or less in December 2014. That meant a $100 civil fine, with a separate possible jail penalty for failing to pay within 180 days. Larger possession remained criminal.^[1]

Judge Robert Molloy considered whether the move to a civil fine also removed cannabis smell as grounds for stopping a vehicle. He concluded that trained officers could still stop a vehicle when they detected a cannabis smell sufficiently connected to it. The change in possession penalties had left cannabis unlawful.^[1]

Prosecutors needed to connect the smell to this truck

The prosecution’s difficulty was its evidence about the moment before the stop. The witness’s account did not establish the first officer’s training in identifying cannabis or adequately connect the smell to Cannergeiter’s truck. It also lacked details such as the officer’s distance from the vehicle.^[1]

Officers’ later observations could not supply the missing justification for the earlier seizure. The court therefore excluded the evidence discovered as a result of the stop, applying the rule that evidence obtained through an unlawful seizure can be suppressed.^[1]

Later legislation gave patients express protections

The 2023 cannabis law expressly protected qualified patients against searches based solely on their medical certification or compliant cannabis activities. It also set adult possession limits and provided a regulated licensing system.^[2]

The US Virgin Islands profile describes that later law and the territory’s progress toward operating licensed businesses.