Wednesday, October 31, 2012  On Dog Sniffs and Innocent Privacy
By Sherry F. Colb  Today on Verdict appears part 1 of a two-part
series of columns in which I discuss the cases of Florida v.
Jardines and Florida v. Harris, both of which are set to be
argued before the U.S. Supreme Court October 31 (today).  Both
of the two cases raise questions about dog sniffs for narcotics:
 the question in Jardines is whether bringing a dog to the front
door of a suspect's home to sniff for narcotics constitutes a
Fourth Amendment "search" that triggers the probable cause
requirement; and the question in Harris is when a dog's positive
alert after sniffing a vehicle from the outside for narcotics
may be considered sufficiently reliable to support probable
cause to perform a conventional search of the vehicle.  In both
decisions, the Florida Supreme Court sided with the criminal
defendant, holding that (1) a dog sniff from outside the front
door of a suspect's residence does constitute a search for which
police must have pr