LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Police don't need to obtain a search warrant before using dogs to sniff outside a house for drugs, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.
The 2-1 decision released Wednesday was a setback for Jeffrey Jones of Detroit, who was charged after a police dog detected drugs inside his home by sniffing outside the front door. Police used that information to obtain a search warrant to enter the residence, where they found marijuana and a gun.
A Wayne County judge suppressed the evidence and threw out the case, ruling that the dog sniffing was an illegal search similar to using a thermal-imaging device.
The appeals court disagreed.
Judges E. Thomas Fitzgerald and William Murphy, citing U.S. Supreme Court cases, said a canine sniff is not a search as defined under Fourth Amendment law. They also said there is no reasonable expectation of privacy at the entrance to property that is open to the public, including the front porch of a home.
A dissenting judge said the ruling erodes the privacy protections and the sanctity of the home guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment.
"A person's home is not some abstract place or location for which it is unclear whether the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy," Judge Stephen L. Borrello wrote.
The case was sent back to the trial judge for further action.