Com. v. Jefcoat, T.

• Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: September 16, 2016
• Docket: 1822 EDA 2015
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

J. S30037/16

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION – SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA v. : : THOMAS LAMAR JEFCOAT, : No. 1822 EDA 2015 : Appellant :

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence, April 22, 2015, in the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County Criminal Division at No. CP-39-CR-0004288-2014

BEFORE: GANTMAN, P.J., FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E., AND JENKINS, J.

CONCURRING AND DISSENTING MEMORANDUM STATEMENT BY FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.: FILED SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

I join in the Majority’s affirmance of the first issue raised by appellant

that the stop and protective search were legal. However, I respectfully

dissent from the Majority’s affirmance of the canine sniff of the book bag. I

believe that Officer Howells lacked probable cause for the search in that the

belief that the bag contained a digital scale had no other support in the

record and therefore was merely a hunch.