Montrezl Harrell arrested

[beeshma]

3 lbs of marijuana is not remotely the same as 100 bottles of Grey Goose. One is clearly for personal use and one is clearly not.

3lbs of marijuana would be the equivalent of having approximately 6-12 bottles of Grey Goose.

6-12 would also be illegal between most states.

That said, no 3 pounds of pot and 100 bottles of grey goose is a very reasonable comparison. But lets just do some math.

So a heavy drinker (top 10%) you're looking at 74 drinks per week. Which is actually suprising, I'd have had that closer to the top 3% if I were guessing. Washing Post is the source. 16 drinks in a bottle of vodka. That's 4.6 bottles of vodka a week! So rounding up about 22 weeks forth of vodka. A bit of research on pot shows a similar number at about 5 grams a week. I'm no weed expert but that gives us about 300 days of weed at 3 pounds. So actually the vodka number should be more like 200 bottles of vodka.

Oddly enough, while I don't think I reach the 75 drinks a week, and I safely say I buy more than 200 bottles of whisky a year.

For anyone that knows about weed, a heavy smoker could easily smoke half an ounce a day (see Wiz Khalifa) (13 grams).
10% of people that drink drink 74 drinks a week? I find that very hard to believe.

I know people that smoke an ounce a day with friend which would last 48 days.

A heavy drinker I would think something like 30 drinks a week seems likely.

So what's that, 21 standard drinks in a standard 700ml vodka bottle.

If we even half the heavy smoke consumption to half an ounce a day, that's 96 half ounces in 3 pounds = 96 days worth.

30 drinks a week / 21 standards = 1.42 bottles per week.

96 / 7 days = 13.71 weeks

1.42 * 13.71 weeks = 19.47 bottles of grey goose per a reasonable amount for a full time smoker (half ounce a day).

So nowhere near 100 bottles of grey goose.

Also for context Wiz Khalifa smokes a pound a day.... so Harrell's stash would be gone in 3 days! and I've categorised a heavy smoker as 32x less than that. Equivalent would be the 30 drinks a week, some full time drinker having 900 standard drinks a week for context.

Your numbers are all unbelievable, and Wiz Khalifa doesn't smoke a pound of weed in a day, no matter what he said or what you read.

[vital_signs]

3 lbs of marijuana is not remotely the same as 100 bottles of Grey Goose. One is clearly for personal use and one is clearly not.

3lbs of marijuana would be the equivalent of having approximately 6-12 bottles of Grey Goose.

6-12 would also be illegal between most states.

That said, no 3 pounds of pot and 100 bottles of grey goose is a very reasonable comparison. But lets just do some math.

So a heavy drinker (top 10%) you're looking at 74 drinks per week. Which is actually suprising, I'd have had that closer to the top 3% if I were guessing. Washing Post is the source. 16 drinks in a bottle of vodka. That's 4.6 bottles of vodka a week! So rounding up about 22 weeks forth of vodka. A bit of research on pot shows a similar number at about 5 grams a week. I'm no weed expert but that gives us about 300 days of weed at 3 pounds. So actually the vodka number should be more like 200 bottles of vodka.

Oddly enough, while I don't think I reach the 75 drinks a week, and I safely say I buy more than 200 bottles of whisky a year.

For anyone that knows about weed, a heavy smoker could easily smoke half an ounce a day (see Wiz Khalifa) (13 grams).
10% of people that drink drink 74 drinks a week? I find that very hard to believe.

In the worst of my young'n days I'd drink 90-100+ beers a week, that stint lasted about half a year. It's possible, even for a 6 foot 155 pound guy like myself.

[Synciere]

3 lbs of marijuana is not remotely the same as 100 bottles of Grey Goose. One is clearly for personal use and one is clearly not.

3lbs of marijuana would be the equivalent of having approximately 6-12 bottles of Grey Goose.

6-12 would also be illegal between most states.

That said, no 3 pounds of pot and 100 bottles of grey goose is a very reasonable comparison. But lets just do some math.

So a heavy drinker (top 10%) you're looking at 74 drinks per week. Which is actually suprising, I'd have had that closer to the top 3% if I were guessing. Washing Post is the source. 16 drinks in a bottle of vodka. That's 4.6 bottles of vodka a week! So rounding up about 22 weeks forth of vodka. A bit of research on pot shows a similar number at about 5 grams a week. I'm no weed expert but that gives us about 300 days of weed at 3 pounds. So actually the vodka number should be more like 200 bottles of vodka.

Oddly enough, while I don't think I reach the 75 drinks a week, and I safely say I buy more than 200 bottles of whisky a year.

For anyone that knows about weed, a heavy smoker could easily smoke half an ounce a day (see Wiz Khalifa) (13 grams).
10% of people that drink drink 74 drinks a week? I find that very hard to believe.

I know people that smoke an ounce a day with friend which would last 48 days.

A heavy drinker I would think something like 30 drinks a week seems likely.

So what's that, 21 standard drinks in a standard 700ml vodka bottle.

If we even half the heavy smoke consumption to half an ounce a day, that's 96 half ounces in 3 pounds = 96 days worth.

30 drinks a week / 21 standards = 1.42 bottles per week.

96 / 7 days = 13.71 weeks

1.42 * 13.71 weeks = 19.47 bottles of grey goose per a reasonable amount for a full time smoker (half ounce a day).

So nowhere near 100 bottles of grey goose.

Also for context Wiz Khalifa smokes a pound a day.... so Harrell's stash would be gone in 3 days! and I've categorised a heavy smoker as 32x less than that. Equivalent would be the 30 drinks a week, some full time drinker having 900 standard drinks a week for context.

LOL...

Wiz smokes about an OUNCE a day he said. Not a pound. For those that don't know, an ounce is 28 grams. Most joints/blunts are 1-2 grams, so we're talking about 10-20 joints a day. That's entirely feasible.

I haven't gone through the whole thread, but I'm sure someone has mentioned anyone purchasing that much weed is NOT doing it just for themselves. Trez is probably the plug, since he's a millionaire. He did this for the homies. If he has the standard entourage of 5-10 people, smoking 10-20 joints a day, we're talking about 2-4 weeks to get through a pound of weed. Throw 1-2 parties per month and of course that goes quicker. As someone who has had friends in the NBA, and known others who were friends and was able to attend some of the parties, three pounds is not 'distribution' weight for a guy makes ten figures LOL. Even the highest grade weed, you're talking about 20K worth of weed. WTF is Montrez Harrell gone do with $20,000? That's a night at the strip club to most players.

I'm legit sorry he's in this position, and I get the people who are saying he should've had someone else drive the weed.

[dhsilv2]

6-12 would also be illegal between most states.

That said, no 3 pounds of pot and 100 bottles of grey goose is a very reasonable comparison. But lets just do some math.

So a heavy drinker (top 10%) you're looking at 74 drinks per week. Which is actually suprising, I'd have had that closer to the top 3% if I were guessing. Washing Post is the source. 16 drinks in a bottle of vodka. That's 4.6 bottles of vodka a week! So rounding up about 22 weeks forth of vodka. A bit of research on pot shows a similar number at about 5 grams a week. I'm no weed expert but that gives us about 300 days of weed at 3 pounds. So actually the vodka number should be more like 200 bottles of vodka.

Oddly enough, while I don't think I reach the 75 drinks a week, and I safely say I buy more than 200 bottles of whisky a year.

For anyone that knows about weed, a heavy smoker could easily smoke half an ounce a day (see Wiz Khalifa) (13 grams).
10% of people that drink drink 74 drinks a week? I find that very hard to believe.

In the worst of my young'n days I'd drink 90-100+ beers a week, that stint lasted about half a year. It's possible, even for a 6 foot 155 pound guy like myself.

The top 10 percent of American drinkers — 24 million adults over age 18 — consume, on average, 74 alcoholic drinks per week," Washington Post reported. "That works out to a little more than four-and-a-half 750 ml bottles of Jack Daniels, 18 bottles of wine, or three 24-can cases of beer

https://www.newsweek.com/americas-heaviest-drinkers-consume-almost-60-all-alcohol-sold-1520284

Why people are questioning the drinks is beyond me. This is pretty well established stuff. That's the top 10%. Meaning the top 5 or 3% is going to be significantly above that number!

I can't get the same data for pot use. This is where I pulled 5 grams a day.

https://www.wikileaf.com/thestash/how-many-grams-a-week-do-you-smoke/

It's amazing people want to use anecdotal evidence over just looking at the data that we have out there.

[taikibansei]

A number of people in this thread are criticizing Harrell. I think they're doing it for the wrong reasons. From the article in the OP:

According to Madison County, Ky., court records, Harrell was scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning to answer the traffic citation, but the arraignment was continued until July 13. Harrell, 28, was pulled over by a Kentucky state trooper at 9:58 a.m. on May 12 while traveling southbound on I-75 for following the vehicle in front of him too closely, according to the police records.

This is likely a bogus justification used just to "excuse" the later car search (which was the real reason for the stop). This happens far too often, especially to non-white drivers. You can find hundreds of similar cases (officer video footage included in each instance) here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/AuditTheAudit

Most of the drivers in those videos were ultimately never cited for a traffic violation (or anything else).

I was recently stopped for "lane straddling"--where there were no other lanes to "straddle"--and for having an "illegally sized air freshener." At this time, I too was told by the officer that he "observed odor of marijuana"--amazing in that I last smoked marijuana 45 years ago (when I was 16). Even though I denied smoking/possessing marijuana, and even though I refused permission to search my car, the officer then called in a canine unit "to make sure"! Of course nothing was found, of course the citations were thrown out, and of course I have filed a complaint against the department. (Doubt the latter will lead to anything beyond a "We investigated ourselves thoroughly but..." letter--still, **** them.) Another similar case can be found here regarding the women's lacrosse team of an HBCU:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/lacrosse/2022/05/12/georgia-sheriff-deputies-search-delaware-state-hbcu-lacrosse-team/9739592002/

In this case too, the police did an illegal stop--Georgia law states that semi trucks can't be in the left lane on highways but that buses can--entered the bus, said that they suspected marijuana, threatened the occupants in an attempt to coerce confessions to drug possession, then searched all the luggage--including opening up several sealed packages (birthday presents all) and holding up student underwear (I guess to make sure that drugs weren't stitched into the fabric ). Again, these bogus stops and questionable searchers are a pattern with law enforcement, and I am very glad to hear that Delaware State University (with its greater resources) is following this up with a formal complaint.

Trooper Jesse Owens stated he “upon stop observed odor of marijuana” from the silver 2020 Honda Pilot that Harrell was driving, according to the citation. Harrell, Owens wrote in the report, “admitted to being in possession of marijuana and produced a small amount from his sweatpants.” During a subsequent search of the vehicle, which the report states Harrell claims was rented, “three pounds of marijuana in vacuum sealed bags” were found in a backpack in the back seat, according to the citation. He’s been charged with trafficking less than five pounds of marijuana.

Harrell got himself into trouble at least partly by confessing. Depending on what the cop's camera showed, the "following the vehicle in front of him too closely" observation was likely not clearly supported (if not outright BS). If the reason for the traffic stop was not able to be substantiated, and if Harrell then avoided self-incrimination, there is a decent chance that a good lawyer would have been able to argue in court that the officer had no probable cause to make the initial stop. Assuming permission was not later granted by Harrell, a court would possibly find that the police had no legal right to search that car, and that the 3 pounds of evidence were accordingly inadmissible in court. (Normally, the city/state would have allowed Harrell to plea to a misdemeanor rather than litigate such a difficult case fully.) Here, as is often the case, Harrell's cooperation with law enforcement merely helped smooth the path for the latter to make a felony charge. To me, that was his real mistake.

My humble observations:

1) Just because a cop says you broke the law doesn't make it true. (Don't allow yourself to panic/be baited.)
2) Don't argue your case with the cops on the street but also never confess to anything. (Keep your mouth shut as much as possible--the 5th amendment is your friend here; the cops usually are not.)
3) Don't consent to a search. (They still might do the search--don't physically resist ever--but without consent you'll make it harder for them to use that evidence later in court.)
4) Consider buying/installing a dashcam. (I have one, and it helped me lots.)

Finally, and most importantly,

5) While I personally see no reason for having three pounds of marijuana, I also don't understand why the possession of even this amount is illegal (but similar amounts of alcohol and/or cigarettes are fine). Our drug laws and their enforcement have always seemed arbitrary to me.

My two cents, anyway.

[CobraCommander]

A number of people in this thread are criticizing Harrell. I think they're doing it for the wrong reasons. From the article in the OP:

According to Madison County, Ky., court records, Harrell was scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning to answer the traffic citation, but the arraignment was continued until July 13. Harrell, 28, was pulled over by a Kentucky state trooper at 9:58 a.m. on May 12 while traveling southbound on I-75 for following the vehicle in front of him too closely, according to the police records.

This is likely a bogus justification used just to "excuse" the later car search (which was the real reason for the stop). This happens far too often, especially to non-white drivers. You can find hundreds of similar cases (officer video footage included in each instance) here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/AuditTheAudit

Most of the drivers in those videos were ultimately never cited for a traffic violation (or anything else).

I was recently stopped for "lane straddling"--where there were no other lanes to "straddle"--and for having an "illegally sized air freshener." At this time, I too was told by the officer that he "observed odor of marijuana"--amazing in that I last smoked marijuana 45 years ago (when I was 16). Even though I denied smoking/possessing marijuana, and even though I refused permission to search my car, the officer then called in a canine unit "to make sure"! Of course nothing was found, of course the citations were thrown out, and of course I have filed a complaint against the department. (Doubt the latter will lead to anything beyond a "We investigated ourselves thoroughly but..." letter--still, **** them.) Another similar case can be found here regarding the women's lacrosse team of an HBCU:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/lacrosse/2022/05/12/georgia-sheriff-deputies-search-delaware-state-hbcu-lacrosse-team/9739592002/

In this case too, the police did an illegal stop--Georgia law states that semi trucks can't be in the left lane on highways but that buses can--entered the bus, said that they suspected marijuana, threatened the occupants in an attempt to coerce confessions to drug possession, then searched all the luggage--including opening up several sealed packages (birthday presents all) and holding up student underwear (I guess to make sure that drugs weren't stitched into the fabric ). Again, these bogus stops and questionable searchers are a pattern with law enforcement, and I am very glad to hear that Delaware State University (with its greater resources) is following this up with a formal complaint.

Trooper Jesse Owens stated he “upon stop observed odor of marijuana” from the silver 2020 Honda Pilot that Harrell was driving, according to the citation. Harrell, Owens wrote in the report, “admitted to being in possession of marijuana and produced a small amount from his sweatpants.” During a subsequent search of the vehicle, which the report states Harrell claims was rented, “three pounds of marijuana in vacuum sealed bags” were found in a backpack in the back seat, according to the citation. He’s been charged with trafficking less than five pounds of marijuana.

Harrell got himself into trouble at least partly by confessing. Depending on what the cop's camera showed, the "following the vehicle in front of him too closely" observation was likely not clearly supported (if not outright BS). If the reason for the traffic stop was not able to be substantiated, and if Harrell then avoided self-incrimination, there is a decent chance that a good lawyer would have been able to argue in court that the officer had no probable cause to make the initial stop. Assuming permission was not later granted by Harrell, a court would possibly find that the police had no legal right to search that car, and that the 3 pounds of evidence were accordingly inadmissible in court. (Normally, the city/state would have allowed Harrell to plea to a misdemeanor rather than litigate such a difficult case fully.) Here, as is often the case, Harrell's cooperation with law enforcement merely helped smooth the path for the latter to make a felony charge. To me, that was his real mistake.

My humble observations:

1) Just because a cop says you broke the law doesn't make it true. (Don't allow yourself to panic/be baited.)
2) Don't argue your case with the cops on the street but also never confess to anything. (Keep your mouth shut as much as possible--the 5th amendment is your friend here; the cops usually are not.)
3) Don't consent to a search. (They still might do the search--don't physically resist ever--but without consent you'll make it harder for them to use that evidence later in court.)
4) Consider buying/installing a dashcam. (I have one, and it helped me lots.)

Finally, and most importantly,

5) While I personally see no reason for having three pounds of marijuana, I also don't understand why the possession of even this amount is illegal (but similar amounts of alcohol and/or cigarettes are fine). Our drug laws and their enforcement have always seemed arbitrary to me.

My two cents, anyway.

Love this post....montrez will get off and no one on earth should look at him as a criminal when we are days away from having weed producers sponsoring games, doing commercials and supporting the league

[CobraCommander]

6-12 would also be illegal between most states.

That said, no 3 pounds of pot and 100 bottles of grey goose is a very reasonable comparison. But lets just do some math.

So a heavy drinker (top 10%) you're looking at 74 drinks per week. Which is actually suprising, I'd have had that closer to the top 3% if I were guessing. Washing Post is the source. 16 drinks in a bottle of vodka. That's 4.6 bottles of vodka a week! So rounding up about 22 weeks forth of vodka. A bit of research on pot shows a similar number at about 5 grams a week. I'm no weed expert but that gives us about 300 days of weed at 3 pounds. So actually the vodka number should be more like 200 bottles of vodka.

Oddly enough, while I don't think I reach the 75 drinks a week, and I safely say I buy more than 200 bottles of whisky a year.

For anyone that knows about weed, a heavy smoker could easily smoke half an ounce a day (see Wiz Khalifa) (13 grams).
10% of people that drink drink 74 drinks a week? I find that very hard to believe.

I know people that smoke an ounce a day with friend which would last 48 days.

A heavy drinker I would think something like 30 drinks a week seems likely.

So what's that, 21 standard drinks in a standard 700ml vodka bottle.

If we even half the heavy smoke consumption to half an ounce a day, that's 96 half ounces in 3 pounds = 96 days worth.

30 drinks a week / 21 standards = 1.42 bottles per week.

96 / 7 days = 13.71 weeks

1.42 * 13.71 weeks = 19.47 bottles of grey goose per a reasonable amount for a full time smoker (half ounce a day).

So nowhere near 100 bottles of grey goose.

Also for context Wiz Khalifa smokes a pound a day.... so Harrell's stash would be gone in 3 days! and I've categorised a heavy smoker as 32x less than that. Equivalent would be the 30 drinks a week, some full time drinker having 900 standard drinks a week for context.

LOL...

Wiz smokes about an OUNCE a day he said. Not a pound. For those that don't know, an ounce is 28 grams. Most joints/blunts are 1-2 grams, so we're talking about 10-20 joints a day. That's entirely feasible.

I haven't gone through the whole thread, but I'm sure someone has mentioned anyone purchasing that much weed is NOT doing it just for themselves. Trez is probably the plug, since he's a millionaire. He did this for the homies. If he has the standard entourage of 5-10 people, smoking 10-20 joints a day, we're talking about 2-4 weeks to get through a pound of weed. Throw 1-2 parties per month and of course that goes quicker. As someone who has had friends in the NBA, and known others who were friends and was able to attend some of the parties, three pounds is not 'distribution' weight for a guy makes ten figures LOL. Even the highest grade weed, you're talking about 20K worth of weed. WTF is Montrez Harrell gone do with $20,000? That's a night at the strip club to most players.

I'm legit sorry he's in this position, and I get the people who are saying he should've had someone else drive the weed.

20 joints a day is feasible- got damn that sounds expensive and mind numbing lol

[Clyde Frazier]

Seriously does not compute... why on earth would a pro athlete making millions per year risk that?

[PizzaSteve]

A minor point could be that he did not purchase the weed. As mentioned I have friends with pounds of the stuff they grew. It is possible that the weed was a gift.

That said, It was foolish of him to do and admit he had it. Know the laws of your states.

[Fable]

Seriously does not compute... why on earth would a pro athlete making millions per year risk that?

People are dumb.

[MrBigShot]

Some people just can't help but prove stupid people can make money too.

Yes, the lawmakers and legislators at the state and federal level who have blocked common sense marijuana reform while keeping laws in place specifically designed to target poor and predominately minority populations.

You don't like the law than get it changed, like we did in Colorado. I still have friends who are white who have records because of weed, we passed an amendment to our state constitution to stop that ****. Despite both political parties fighting it in Colorado, and then we pass recreational with both parties fighting it and bitching about it even today. If you break the laws than you pay the consequences, if you have money then you should be smart enough to have weed delivered to you.

Actually I'd argue that under no circumstances should you ever have weed delivered to you because potential charges go from drug possession to intent to distribute drugs. That's what happened to FPSRussia, a pretty well known youtuber from back in the day. He got off with like 30 days in prison iirc but he was facing some heavy prison sentences if he hadn't taken a plea deal.

Punishing people for having weed is just dumb full stop and its obnoxious that some others (not you) in this thread are trying to defend it. As a professional athlete Trez should find a way to just get it prescribed medicinally and avoid all this headache though.

[Synciere]

For anyone that knows about weed, a heavy smoker could easily smoke half an ounce a day (see Wiz Khalifa) (13 grams).
10% of people that drink drink 74 drinks a week? I find that very hard to believe.

I know people that smoke an ounce a day with friend which would last 48 days.

A heavy drinker I would think something like 30 drinks a week seems likely.

So what's that, 21 standard drinks in a standard 700ml vodka bottle.

If we even half the heavy smoke consumption to half an ounce a day, that's 96 half ounces in 3 pounds = 96 days worth.

30 drinks a week / 21 standards = 1.42 bottles per week.

96 / 7 days = 13.71 weeks

1.42 * 13.71 weeks = 19.47 bottles of grey goose per a reasonable amount for a full time smoker (half ounce a day).

So nowhere near 100 bottles of grey goose.

Also for context Wiz Khalifa smokes a pound a day.... so Harrell's stash would be gone in 3 days! and I've categorised a heavy smoker as 32x less than that. Equivalent would be the 30 drinks a week, some full time drinker having 900 standard drinks a week for context.

LOL...

Wiz smokes about an OUNCE a day he said. Not a pound. For those that don't know, an ounce is 28 grams. Most joints/blunts are 1-2 grams, so we're talking about 10-20 joints a day. That's entirely feasible.

I haven't gone through the whole thread, but I'm sure someone has mentioned anyone purchasing that much weed is NOT doing it just for themselves. Trez is probably the plug, since he's a millionaire. He did this for the homies. If he has the standard entourage of 5-10 people, smoking 10-20 joints a day, we're talking about 2-4 weeks to get through a pound of weed. Throw 1-2 parties per month and of course that goes quicker. As someone who has had friends in the NBA, and known others who were friends and was able to attend some of the parties, three pounds is not 'distribution' weight for a guy makes ten figures LOL. Even the highest grade weed, you're talking about 20K worth of weed. WTF is Montrez Harrell gone do with $20,000? That's a night at the strip club to most players.

I'm legit sorry he's in this position, and I get the people who are saying he should've had someone else drive the weed.

20 joints a day is feasible- got damn that sounds expensive and mind numbing lol

Yeah it’s not normal, but people smoke a pack of cigarettes a day and no one blinks an eye. Also, I really think he’s doing this with friends. Normal people with 9-5s don’t have time to smoke that much in the 8-10 hours we’re out of work Monday through Fridays lol. Also, it’s really not a lot if you gross ten figures. It’s only recently that players stopped being tested for marijuana, and that was only during the season. The off-season, these dudes get it in!!!

[Synciere]

Seriously does not compute... why on earth would a pro athlete making millions per year risk that?

Let’s see what the punishment ends up being first. With a decent lawyer and some context, I suspect he gets off with a slap on the wrist. This isn’t the 80s, or even ten years ago.

[Clyde Frazier]

Seriously does not compute... why on earth would a pro athlete making millions per year risk that?

Let’s see what the punishment ends up being first. With a decent lawyer and some context, I suspect he gets off with a slap on the wrist. This isn’t the 80s, or even ten years ago.

Yeah the outcome doesn't really change my opinion. No reason to put yourself in that situation if you're Harrell.

[SomeBunghole]

As a professional athlete Trez should find a way to just get it prescribed medicinally and avoid all this headache though.

Or he should find a way to live without weed.

[th87]

A number of people in this thread are criticizing Harrell. I think they're doing it for the wrong reasons. From the article in the OP:

According to Madison County, Ky., court records, Harrell was scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning to answer the traffic citation, but the arraignment was continued until July 13. Harrell, 28, was pulled over by a Kentucky state trooper at 9:58 a.m. on May 12 while traveling southbound on I-75 for following the vehicle in front of him too closely, according to the police records.

This is likely a bogus justification used just to "excuse" the later car search (which was the real reason for the stop). This happens far too often, especially to non-white drivers. You can find hundreds of similar cases (officer video footage included in each instance) here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/AuditTheAudit

Most of the drivers in those videos were ultimately never cited for a traffic violation (or anything else).

I was recently stopped for "lane straddling"--where there were no other lanes to "straddle"--and for having an "illegally sized air freshener." At this time, I too was told by the officer that he "observed odor of marijuana"--amazing in that I last smoked marijuana 45 years ago (when I was 16). Even though I denied smoking/possessing marijuana, and even though I refused permission to search my car, the officer then called in a canine unit "to make sure"! Of course nothing was found, of course the citations were thrown out, and of course I have filed a complaint against the department. (Doubt the latter will lead to anything beyond a "We investigated ourselves thoroughly but..." letter--still, **** them.) Another similar case can be found here regarding the women's lacrosse team of an HBCU:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/lacrosse/2022/05/12/georgia-sheriff-deputies-search-delaware-state-hbcu-lacrosse-team/9739592002/

In this case too, the police did an illegal stop--Georgia law states that semi trucks can't be in the left lane on highways but that buses can--entered the bus, said that they suspected marijuana, threatened the occupants in an attempt to coerce confessions to drug possession, then searched all the luggage--including opening up several sealed packages (birthday presents all) and holding up student underwear (I guess to make sure that drugs weren't stitched into the fabric ). Again, these bogus stops and questionable searchers are a pattern with law enforcement, and I am very glad to hear that Delaware State University (with its greater resources) is following this up with a formal complaint.

Trooper Jesse Owens stated he “upon stop observed odor of marijuana” from the silver 2020 Honda Pilot that Harrell was driving, according to the citation. Harrell, Owens wrote in the report, “admitted to being in possession of marijuana and produced a small amount from his sweatpants.” During a subsequent search of the vehicle, which the report states Harrell claims was rented, “three pounds of marijuana in vacuum sealed bags” were found in a backpack in the back seat, according to the citation. He’s been charged with trafficking less than five pounds of marijuana.

Harrell got himself into trouble at least partly by confessing. Depending on what the cop's camera showed, the "following the vehicle in front of him too closely" observation was likely not clearly supported (if not outright BS). If the reason for the traffic stop was not able to be substantiated, and if Harrell then avoided self-incrimination, there is a decent chance that a good lawyer would have been able to argue in court that the officer had no probable cause to make the initial stop. Assuming permission was not later granted by Harrell, a court would possibly find that the police had no legal right to search that car, and that the 3 pounds of evidence were accordingly inadmissible in court. (Normally, the city/state would have allowed Harrell to plea to a misdemeanor rather than litigate such a difficult case fully.) Here, as is often the case, Harrell's cooperation with law enforcement merely helped smooth the path for the latter to make a felony charge. To me, that was his real mistake.

My humble observations:

1) Just because a cop says you broke the law doesn't make it true. (Don't allow yourself to panic/be baited.)
2) Don't argue your case with the cops on the street but also never confess to anything. (Keep your mouth shut as much as possible--the 5th amendment is your friend here; the cops usually are not.)
3) Don't consent to a search. (They still might do the search--don't physically resist ever--but without consent you'll make it harder for them to use that evidence later in court.)
4) Consider buying/installing a dashcam. (I have one, and it helped me lots.)

Finally, and most importantly,

5) While I personally see no reason for having three pounds of marijuana, I also don't understand why the possession of even this amount is illegal (but similar amounts of alcohol and/or cigarettes are fine). Our drug laws and their enforcement have always seemed arbitrary to me.

My two cents, anyway.

Not arbitrary!

Enacted to oppress certain people, thus working as designed.