On Point

COA holds officer had sufficient PC to arrest based on odor of marijuana emitting from car

State of Wisconsin v. Gabriela Dominguez, 2025AP2666-CR, 10/21/26, District II (ineligible for publication); case activity

Relying on existing precedent, COA concludes a smell of marijuana from a car in which Dominguez was a passenger established probable cause to arrest.

Dominguez was a passenger in a car that was stopped for speeding. (¶4). When the driver rolled down the window, the officer “smelled the strong odor of marijuana. . . .” (Id.). The officer conceded the smell was coming from the car as opposed to “any particular person.” (¶5). When Dominguez got out of the car, she was asked if “she had anything on her [the officer] needed to know about . . . .” (Id.). Although there was a factual dispute on this point, the circuit court made a finding that Dominguez answered “yeah” while gesturing to her pocket. (¶8). The officer reached into the pocket, where Dominguez had a gun. (¶5).

On appeal, the parties dispute whether there was probable cause to arrest Dominguez for a drug offense at the time the officer searched her pocket. (¶14). The Court relies on Secrist to answer “yes.” Here, the odor “‘was consistent throughout all open doors and windows of the car,’ which necessarily means the officer smelled the odor emitting out of the door from which Dominguez exited and from where she had just been sitting, connecting her to the odor more so than if, for example, it had only been detected out of the driver’s side of the vehicle.” (¶16). That odor near where Dominguez was sitting, under Secrist, “provided a sufficient link between her and the observed presence of marijuana to satisfy the probable cause threshold necessary to arrest and search her.” (¶17). And, while the odor alone is sufficient, Dominguez’s admission “that something untoward was on her person” provides even more evidence justifying the officer’s conduct. (¶18).