Baton Rouge court case involving marijuana stuffed in a salmon headed to SCOTUS

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Marijuana-stuffed salmon confiscated by Baton Rouge police in 2012 are at the center of a unique legal battle that already navigated three Louisiana courts and soon will be headed upstream to the highest court in the land.

The case, which pits police use of deceptive practices against the constitutional right to privacy and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, has prompted one Louisiana Supreme Court justice to question “whether the fish search passes the ‘smell test.’ ”

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The saga of the stuffed salmon began Nov. 9, 2012, when two officers were at the UPS processing center in Port Allen looking for suspicious incoming packages that might contain drugs. The officers, about 8:15 a.m., noticed a package addressed to a Bob Pettit Boulevard apartment that was shipped via an authorized shipping agent from the Oakland, California, area known to police for marijuana distribution.

Drug traffickers often use authorized agents because the shipper’s name is not required, according to court documents filed in the case, and next-day delivery is utilized because of a 10:30 a.m. delivery guarantee that traffickers believe will prevent law enforcement interference if the deadline is met.

The officers did not obtain a search warrant to inspect the package or call in a drug-sniffing dog, but instead allowed it to be delivered to its destination while they watched.

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Moore retrieved the package from his doorstep where it was delivered, went inside and eventually emerged with a Styrofoam cooler that he put in the trunk of his car. Police followed him as he drove around south Baton Rouge for about 15 minutes in an alleged manner known as “heat checking” — or attempting to check for police who might be following him.

Eventually, police stopped his car in the parking lot of a Raising Canes restaurant on East State Street. Their next move is what triggered the ongoing legal battle.

The narcotics officers told Moore they were investigating an armed robbery and asked if he would consent to a search of his vehicle, and he agreed. They found the cooler, and Moore allegedly told them it contained salmon sent to him by his aunt. The officers discovered three vacuum-sealed bundles of salmon stuffed with six pounds of marijuana.

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