A man driving through South Dakota is stopped by the police for speeding. Police K9 dog alerts on vehicle indicating drugs are present. Police search vehicle and find 320 pounds of marijuana.

A man was driving through South Dakota and was pulled over by the police for speeding. The vehicle was rented and the defendant was coming from norther California. The vehicle was loaded with personal belongings piled in the back seat. Police place the defendant in the back of the police vehicle and had a k9 search the defendant’s vehicle when the dog indicated there was a substance present. This was video taped by the video camera in the police vehicle.

I was hired as an expert to determine if the police k9 had actually alerted on the vehicle or whether the police k9 handler caused the dog to have a false alert since that would determine whether or not the police had probable cause to search the vehicle.

After revising the video and the k9 training records it was shown that the k9 was unreliable and that probable cause had not been established, all evidence that was seized was inadmissible saving the defendant from going to jail.