Supreme Court of North Carolina
State v. Schiene
August 14, 2026
Summary
The Court held that probable cause for a warrantless vehicle search must be assessed under the totality of the circumstances, with the odor of cannabis treated as one factor rather than an independently dispositive justification. Because the Court had already resolved the issue in prior decisions, it concluded that discretionary review had been improvidently allowed and left the Court of Appeals' decision undisturbed to the extent consistent with that rule.