The Iowa Supreme Court has overturned a drug bust made by a State Trooper following a stop for a minor violation.  State Trooper Eric Vander Weil was in Powesheik County watching for out-of-state vehicles on Interstate 80 in June of 2012 as part of an effort to locate drugs being transported across the state. He saw a car with California license plates and pulled it over for having a non-working taillight.

The trooper wrote out two traffic violations and after talking with the driver and passenger, he felt something was up and brought a drug dog. The dog found marijuana and 33-thousand dollars in cash in the car. The passenger in the car, Robert Pardee, was later acquitted of a marijuana possession charge and filed to get the money back saying it was illegally seized.

The Iowa Supreme Court on a 5-2 vote ruled the stop violated Pardee’s constitutional rights. Based on recent cases with the U-S Supreme Court, the Iowa court says the trooper developed reasonable suspicion of other criminal activity only by prolonging the initial traffic stop beyond the time reasonably necessary to execute the traffic violation warnings.

Chief Justice Mark Cady was one of the three judges to disagree, saying the nervous of Pardee and the driver, the smell of air freshener in their car and other indicators were enough to prolong the stop to look for drugs.

(Radio Iowa)