West Virginia
West Virginia Supreme Court Considers Whether Smell Of Marijuana Can Be Basis For Police To Search Homes – Marijuana Moment
“There’s no inherent logical connection or nexus between the smell of marijuana and unlawful activity anymore, and there’s a good reason for that.”
By Lori Kersey, West Virginia Watch
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is considering a case that questions whether the odor of marijuana alone is enough for law enforcement to obtain a warrant to search a person’s home.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on an appeal of Berkeley County Circuit Court’s decision to throw out evidence Martinsburg police officers found in a home after detecting the “strong odor” of the drug. Excluding the evidence effectively stopped the state from prosecuting a man on drug charges, an attorney told justices last week.
Aaron Lewis was arrested in 2020 on three counts of drug possession with intent to deliver and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, according to reporting by the Herald-Mail.
Court documents say Martinsburg police were answering another man’s call about a suicidal woman who had reportedly stabbed herself when they came across Lewis while searching the caller’s backyard. Officers were unable to locate the woman so they started going door-to-door looking for her.
The officers went to Lewis’s home where his son, Aaron Lewis Jr. answered the door. The officers detected the “strong odor of marijuana,” according to court documents. The younger Lewis refused to give officers permission to search the home.
Before they obtained a search warrant, they entered the home to conduct a “protective sweep,” during which they found a bundle of money and two clear bowls with a leafy substance on the kitchen stove, court documents say. Two officers then left to obtain the search warrant while other officers stayed on scene to secure the apartment.
An officer cited the strong odor of marijuana and the observations during the sweep as the basis to believe a dangerous controlled substance was in the house.
A magistrate OK’d the search warrant for Lewis’ home, including the seizure of “(a)ny and all controlled substances…including but not limited to heroin and methamphetamine,” as well as currency, firearms, ledgers, digital devices and drug paraphernalia, court documents say.
During the search, officers seized bags and tubs of suspected marijuana, a bag of suspected heroin, a bag of crack cocaine, one gun and 11 rounds of ammunition and cash, according to court documents.
An attorney for Lewis asked the judge in 2023 to suppress all evidence seized pursuant to the warrant, arguing that the initial warrantless sweep—the security sweep before the search—violated the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizures. Without the observations made during the sweep, only the smell of marijuana was left and that alone is insufficient for probable cause, the attorney argued.
Berkeley Circuit Judge Debra McLaughlin granted Lewis’s motion to suppress the evidence, saying that more protection should be given to homes subject to searches than to cars. The judge ruled the odor of marijuana alone did not establish probable cause to believe the home contained “evidence of illegal drug trafficking and/or possession of heroin, methamphetamines, and/or other illegal drugs,” court documents say.
The state of West Virginia is seeking a writ of prohibition in the case, a legal order that the circuit court stop proceedings beyond its jurisdiction.
“This court’s precedent is clear,” Holly Mestemacher, an assistant attorney general for West Virginia, told justices. “The odor of marijuana provides probable cause for a search. The circuit court disregarded the law and rewrote it and suppressed the evidence seized pursuant to a search warrant.” She called the court’s decision to suppress the evidence a “clear and substantial legal error” that exceeds its authority.
The court required “certainty, and a near impossible list of proof required before probable cause exists,” she argued.
The ruling suppressed the evidence the state needed to proceed in the case, she said.
“It’s effectively a death knell to our ability to prosecute, because the court elevated that standard required far more than has ever been required by law,” she said.
Cameron LeFevre, an attorney representing Lewis, asked the Supreme Court to uphold the Circuit Court ruling by denying the state’s request for a writ of prohibition. He said the court doesn’t need to answer whether the smell of marijuana justified the search. There were “errors throughout” the case, he said, including an improper security sweep, unlawful home search and an affidavit that lacked important details.
Federal courts have upheld that the odor of marijuana is evidence of criminal activity and justifies a search by law enforcement, but many state courts are reconsidering that based on changing legal status of the drug, according to the State Court Report, a project of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. The West Virginia Legislature legalized medical marijuana in 2017. All states surrounding West Virginia have either legalized medical or recreational marijuana.
LeFevre argued that Lewis’ case is not the appropriate one for the Supreme Court to make case law about whether the smell of marijuana alone is enough for a legal search.
“There’s an incomplete record. It’s a unique procedural posture. It’s on a writ of prohibition,” he said. “It would be much better for the court to fairly decide this…case on its final merits, after a trial, after an entire record has been made, and then there’s not a variety of other procedural and legal issues contained within the warrant application process and the search itself.”
However, if the court should decide to take on the issue of the odor of marijuana, it should rule that the mere smell of marijuana is no longer sufficient for probable cause, he said.
“There’s been a significant development in the law of the land regarding marijuana,” he said. “[Medical marijuana has] become legalized in West Virginia. It’s become partially legalized in other states surrounding West Virginia. There’s no inherent logical connection or nexus between the smell of marijuana and unlawful activity anymore, and there’s a good reason for that.”
The court is expected to issue a ruling in the case before the current term of court ends on June 11.
This story was first published by West Virginia Watch.
BEVERLY, W.Va (WDTV) – The West Virginia Celtic Festival took place Saturday at Camp Pioneer in Randolph County.
People from around the country came to celebrate their Scottish and Irish heritage at the fourth annual event.
The festival included Irish dancing, Highland games and live Celtic music. Participants set up tents around the park for the public. Artifacts from Celtic heritage and history were on display.
The event was expected to reach up to 5,000 attendants.
“Today we’re hosting the fourth annual West Virginia Wild and Wonderful Celtic Festival and Highland Games. It’s a celebration of Celtic culture and heritage and history,” said David Ferguson, a participant. “We have Highland Games, heavy athletics. We have the athletes throwing the cabers, throwing the heavy stones. A lot of fun athletics to watch. We have Highland dancers. We have musical entertainment. We have something for everybody. We have a lot of fun activities for the kids.”
A Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan service will take place Sunday at the Beverly Presbyterian Church.
Copyright 2026 WDTV. All rights reserved.
West Virginia
Notebook: MCWS as good as advertised; West Virginia no overnight success story – WV MetroNews
Ahead of a June 10th trip to Omaha, I’d only heard positive reviews of the Men’s College World Series and the city that hosts it.
After an eight-night stay in Nebraska’s biggest city, it’s easy to see why.
The event at Charles Schwab Field was well-run and organized starting with Thursday practice for each of the eight participants.
The ballpark, which opened in 2011, is a state of the art, clean venue with a wide variety of concession offerings and a spacious press box that easily accommodated media members while all eight teams played two games over the first four days.
Crowds were strong and made their presence felt, particularly over the first several days.
There are fan-friendly activities just outside the stadium and no shortage of restaurants and bars within walking distance to partake in pregame or postgame festivities.
Perhaps Troy coach Skylar Meade summed it up best after the Trojans were eliminated Tuesday with a 12-0 loss to West Virginia that marked their second setback to the Mountaineers over a 96-hour stretch.
“Every person who came here now knows what this place is,” Meade said. “It’s the most unique place in the world. It’s the best college sporting event bar none. No offense to the others. Rose Bowl is awesome. It ain’t this.”
— — — — —
This was the third straight year I was present for West Virginia’s last game of the season after being on hand for the 2024 Super Regional series at North Carolina and again last year at LSU on the same stage.
Taking in the atmosphere in 2025 at Alex Box Stadium, when the Mountaineers played in front of consecutive crowds of 12,000-plus, provided a look at college baseball I’d never experienced and a newfound appreciation of the sport.
The MCWS took it a step further and continued the ascension of a Mountaineer program that gained national notoriety while hosting the Morgantown Regional and a Super Regional series against Cal Poly.
Envisioning WVU playing on the premier stage in college baseball was unfathomable a decade ago and even highly unlikely as recently as five years back.
But let’s not forget this is a program with four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and one of only two (North Carolina the other) to reach the Super Regional round each of the last three years.
What transpired this season as the Mountaineers set a new single-season program mark with 47 victories is a culmination of a lot of hard work from a lot of people within the program and athletic department alike, but it cannot be considered an overnight success story.
While West Virginia was swept in best-of-three sets in Chapel Hill and Baton Rouge, it’s important to remember those were 36 and 44-win teams that won regionals outside of Morgantown — feats fans should appreciate even more after witnessing the postseason atmosphere at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
WVU hadn’t won in the Super Regional round prior to this season, but two years ago, it had a ninth-inning lead against the Tar Heels in Game 1 and lost Game 2 by one run. Last season, the Mountaineers were eliminated by the eventual national champion.
“There are financial realities of the sport, and people may have assumptions about specific programs or about West Virginia in general that may or may not be correct,” WVU coach Steve Sabins said. “We have a whole lot of people working really hard on a whole lot of different areas, whether that’s Gold & Blue Enterprises, whether that’s BioPrecision with us, whether that’s the School of Sports Science or Biomechanics and Performance Center, whether that’s third-party NIL, specific donors, West Virginia has all of that.
“And it’s competing at the highest levels in all these areas, and I think it would probably surprise a lot of folks of the amount of effort, work, attention to detail and financial resources that have been poured into our program.”
— — — — —
A tip of the cap to West Virginia senior outfielder Brock Wills.
The UNC Wilmington transfer was a mainstay in the Mountaineer lineup throughout the regular season and Big 12 Conference Tournament when he appeared in 50 of 53 games with 45 starts.
When the NCAA Tournament rolled around, Sabins opted to start fellow senior Ben Lumsden in place of Wills.
The decision proved difficult to debate as Lumsden came up with numerous hits in key spots and finished 12-for-37 with three home runs, two doubles, 13 RBI and 11 base-on-balls over 11 games.
Wills, meanwhile, came off the bench to play in three NCAA Tournament games, one of which was Wednesday’s 12-7 season-ending loss to North Carolina when he came on as a right fielder to start the fifth inning.
Wills had three plate appearances against the Tar Heels, the first of which was a well-struck, but tough-luck double play on a liner to second base with the bases loaded in the sixth. He followed it with a walk in the seventh and a single in the ninth.
“So awesome. That kid has been such an instrumental piece of this team,” Sabins said. “In high-level competition, things don’t always go your way. There’s only nine dudes that get to play, and so coaches have to make hard decisions, and that happens every single year. And some years it’s a bigger storyline and some years it’s not, and some guys play good and some guys don’t. And there’s always some mix of that.
“But when things don’t go your way, it’s very easy to cash out. And so when you see a kid that has been so team-oriented and then to get inserted into the biggest game of his career and perform, it just shows you everything that you need to know about character. Because if you cash out, you don’t roll into the highest competition in the world and have success.
“Whether he had success or not, I knew his character. I knew that he was still working, and I knew he was team-oriented, and I knew he was fighting like hell to be great for the Mountaineers, and that’s why he got his opportunity. That’s why it came back around to him.”
For the season, Wills hit .283 (47-for-166) with two home runs, six doubles, three triples and 23 RBI.
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