News Roundup

On Wednesday, the Michigan Supreme Court held in a 5-1 opinion that the odor of marijuana alone isn't a sufficient reason for police to conduct a warrantless search of a car. In 2018, the possession and use of small amounts of marijuana by people who are at least 21 years old became legal. However, the law specifies that marijuana cannot be used while operating a vehicle. In the opinion, Justice Megan Cavanagh notes that “the smell of marijuana might just as likely indicate that the person is in possession of a legal amount of marijuana, recently used marijuana legally, or was simply in the presence of someone else who used marijuana” and that the smell “no longer constitutes probable cause sufficient to support a search for contraband.” Los Angeles sheriff to retest 4,000 DNA samples. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will retest approximately 4,000 DNA samples after discovering some exam kits used in the last year might be prone to "intermittently poor performance." On August 28, 2024, the test kit manufacturer sent a letter to the department, warning of the potential problems. However, the notice was forwarded to a person who was no longer employed by the department at the time of receipt. It was recently discovered that the affected kits were in use for approximately eight months, from July 2024 through February 2025. The sheriff has shared that based on the information provided by the DNA testing kit manufacturer, the use of the affected kits "may have led to incomplete [...]