(DOWNLOAD) "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Fontanez" by In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Eastern District # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Fontanez
- Author : In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Eastern District
- Release Date : January 28, 1999
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 67 KB
Description
679 A.2d 1361 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1996) ARGUED: October 21, 1997 DISSENTING OPINION MR. JUSTICE CASTILLE DECIDED I respectfully Dissent. In my opinion, there was sufficient evidence for the trial court to conclude that the currency seized from appellant's vehicle was contraband. The determination of whether the currency was contraband was necessarily dependent on the facts and circumstances presented to the trial court. Absent an abuse of discretion or an error of law, the trial court's decision should be affirmed. Here, the evidence demonstrated that a police officer stopped appellant's car at 8:30 P.M. for a traffic violation in a neighborhood within the officer's usual patrol area and known by the officer to be a neighborhood decimated by the effects of illegal drug trafficking. Upon making the car stop, the officer immediately recognized appellant as a known drug dealer in the neighborhood. Specifically, the officer testified: ""I am acquainted with [appellant], his father, his grandfather and his stepmother through narcotics activity, À I patrolled that area for almost fifteen years."" As appellant exited the vehicle, the officer observed a large sum of U.S. currency spill onto the floor of the car from a paper bag. After appellant provided no explanation for this irregular development, the police officer confiscated the money as probable contraband. The police officer took the money to the police station and, after it was inventoried and placed in a desk drawer, summoned a drug-sniffing dog. The dog successfully alerted to the desk drawer where the money had been placed indicating the presence of illegal substances in the drawer holding the currency.1
 "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Fontanez" by In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Eastern District # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}