In re D.D.

Summary

The Maryland Court of Appeals held that the odor of marijuana, standing alone, provided reasonable suspicion to conduct a brief investigatory detention because possession of 10 grams or more remained a criminal offense. The Court further held that the totality of the circumstances, including evasive behavior, baggy clothing, the odor of marijuana, the discovery of a suspected weapon on a companion, and the officers being outnumbered, supported reasonable suspicion that D.D. was armed and dangerous. The Court reversed the Court of Special Appeals and upheld the denial of D.D.'s motion to suppress the firearm.

Holdings

1. Because possession of ten grams or more of marijuana remains criminal in Maryland, the odor of marijuana provides reasonable suspicion that criminal activity may be afoot and, standing alone, justifies a brief investigatory detention. The odor does not, however, provide probable cause for an arrest based solely on the odor.
2. The frisk of D.D. was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment because the totality of the circumstances gave the officers reasonable suspicion that he was armed and dangerous.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the odor of marijuana, without more, supplies reasonable suspicion to conduct a brief investigatory detention after Maryland decriminalized possession of less than ten grams.
2. Whether the totality of the circumstances supplied reasonable suspicion that D.D. was armed and dangerous, thereby justifying a Terry frisk.
3. Whether the juvenile court properly denied D.D.'s motion to suppress the loaded firearm.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded