Appeals court reverses ruling in marijuana search case

By AMY LORENTZEN, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DES MOINES — The Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday reversed a ruling in a case where a police chief obtained a search warrant after talking to a woman who smelled like marijuana.

The appeals court reversed a ruling that had granted a motion by the defendant, Lysa Marie Fisk, to suppress evidence obtained as a result of a search warrant.

Fisk, who was charged with possession of a controlled substance, claimed there wasn’t probable cause for the search.

Court records said that Tama Police Chief Daniel Wilkens went to Fisk’s apartment building on Dec. 1, 2006, on a complaint of a vehicle left in the street. He rang Fisk from the foyer intercom and asked to come to her apartment after learning that the car was registered in her name.

Fisk refused, but agreed to meet Wilkens in the foyer. When she arrived, Wilkens claimed that he detected ‘‘a strong odor of burnt marijuana,’’ court records said.

Fisk argued in her motion that the odor in the foyer wasn’t an adequate connection that marijuana would be found in her apartment. She said because the smell was noticed in a public area, it could have come from any of the apartments.

The Tama County District Court granted Fisk’s motion to suppress the evidence. The state then filed a motion for discretionary review, and it was granted by the Iowa Supreme Court, which stayed the district court proceedings.

In reviewing the case, the appeals court found that there was probable cause for the search.

‘‘In this case, the magistrate reasonably could have inferred that Fisk acquired the smell of marijuana after smoking it in the apartment from which she came,’’ the court wrote in its ruling.

The case was sent back to district court for further proceedings.