A Winnebago man and a North Mankato Woman had drug sales charges against them dismissed in Nicollet County after a judge determined law enforcement lacked legal standing to bring in a dog to sniff their vehicle in December.
Sixty two year old Kimberly Ann Jahnke and 39 year old Matthew Robert Mattin had two felony drug sales charges and two felony drug possession charges dismissed last Thursday in Nicollet County District Court. Mattin still faces a misdemeanor driving after revocation charge.
The dismissal is related to a December 11th traffic stop in the county, followed by a dog sniff and search. Law enforcement officers reported finding methamphetamine in the vehicle, which was being driven by Mattin with Jahnke in the passenger seat.
A Nicollet County Sheriff’s Deputy pulled the vehicle over on Highway 169 going south after it drove over a dotted/dashed line separating a right lane from a right turn lane. The deputy found out Mattin didn’t have a valid driver’s license.
Another deputy arrived with a K-9, or drug sniffing dog, according to court records and the dog alerted law enforcement to areas of interest in the vehicle, leading to an interior search.
Judge Todd Westphal determined the initial stop was legal, but the dog sniff violated the defendants’ rights because there wasn’t “reasonable suspicion of drug related criminal activity” to justify expanding the stop.
Law enforcement officers also didn’t detect odors or chemicals after making the stop, he continued, adding that they didn’t observe any items inside the vehicle suggestive of illegal activities.
Westphal’s ruling resulted in suppression of the evidence obtained during the search and dismissal of the drug charges for lack of probable cause. He ordered the defendants to be released from county jail.
Mattin’s remaining charge for driving after revocation has a pretrial hearing scheduled for April 8th.