Warrantless Search

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Ashley Jean Campbell

Case No.: 2020AP001813-CR

Officials: Gill, J.

Focus: Warrantless Search

Law enforcement stopped a vehicle driven by Campbell. While an officer drafted citations for traffic infractions, another officer arrived with a police canine and ordered Campbell and her passenger out of the vehicle. As Campbell exited the vehicle, she left open her driver’s side door. The officer twice led the canine on a leash around the vehicle’s exterior and, on each occasion, the canine entered through the open door and “alerted” to the presence of narcotics in a purse located on the vehicle’s floor. A subsequent search of the purse revealed suspected marijuana. Campbell argues that the canine’s warrantless “searches” of the vehicle violated her rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and that the circuit court erred by denying her motion to suppress the results of those searches.

The appeals court concludes that both of the canine’s entries into Campbell’s vehicle constituted searches under the Fourth Amendment. Therefore, the State was required to either obtain a warrant prior to the searches or rely upon an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement in order to justify the warrantless searches. See United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400, 402 (2012).

Reversed and remanded.

Decided 01/23/24

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