Man Busted For Money That Smelled Like Pot, Without Actually Possessing Pot

[bobandtorey]

 

We may have a new term in drug enforcement: smelly money.

Jurors convicted William David Bush of Sebastopol, Calif. on Friday of possessing money from marijuana sales.

Police asserted that the $47,000 they found in his car smelled so strongly of the drug that the money could only have come from a recent drug transaction. However, no actual marijuana was found.

According to CBS, police stopped Bush for speeding and found that his driver's license had been suspended. Officers then allegedly searched the vehicle and found the money in the car.

Bush represented himself in the trial, claiming the money had come from his ATM business and from his mother. He faces up to four years in jail and will be sentenced on October 24.

While jurors could not firsthand evaluate the reportedly overwhelming scent, other evidence exhibited included fine particles of pot on the floor, a handwritten note allegedly describing multiple marijuana strains and receipts from purchases of outdoor growing operation items, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported, noting that it was the smell that really swayed the jury.

While significant evidence points toward Bush’s guilt, the case has some larger implications for police rights to stop and search cars.

 

 

"It's one of the highest, most protected rights under the Constitution, the right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure," William Paul Barry, a defense attorney in Boca Raton, Florida told the Sun Sentinel. "In the cases where it's hard to believe [the officer actually smelled marijuana], it's the worst kind of violation."

 

[Wild Bill]

This is from 2009 but it's probably still true. We should all be in jail.

90 percent of U.S. bills carry traces of cocaine

August 17, 2009

By Madison Park
CNN

 

(CNN) -- The term "dirty money" is for real.

 

In the course of its average 20 months in circulation, U.S. currency gets whisked into ATMs, clutched, touched and traded perhaps thousands of times at coffee shops, convenience stores and newsstands. And every touch to every bill brings specks of dirt, food, germs or even drug residue.

Research presented this weekend reinforced previous findings that 90 percent of paper money circulating in U.S. cities contains traces of cocaine.

 

Money can be contaminated with cocaine during drug deals or if a user snorts with a bill. But not all bills are involved in drug use; they can get contaminated inside currency-counting machines at the bank.

[Ms Chocolate]

If the money had smelled like something else, would Bush have been arrested for being a john who just completed a transaction?

[trichcycler]

speeding, suspended license, represented himself......I get it. but still, they could have easily checked these ATM records, and put an end to the question of where the money came from, a point the lawyer would have hammered form the start, if true in the first place. 47k !! wow, but not enough sense to drive a legal car...silly billy

[PeacePipe]

I like to draw on money even though it is illegal .  

Edited November 5, 2013 by PeacePipe

[trichcycler]

tehe

[abe supercro]

that ten a nine this one time

[trichcycler]

Canada prints their money on hemp paper I hear

[bobandtorey]

I like to draw on money even though it is illegal .  Z native-american.jpg