State of South Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee v. Shanna Ballard, Defendant and Appellant

Summary

The South Dakota Supreme Court held that a deputy's continued detention of a motorist after issuing a warning citation and telling her she was free to leave violated the Fourth Amendment, because every suspicious observation the officer made predated the free-to-leave statement and no new suspicious information arose before he detained her vehicle for a drug dog. The court also rejected the State's reliance on the automobile exception, which excuses only the absence of a warrant, not the absence of probable cause. It reversed the circuit court's order denying Ballard's motion to suppress and did not reach her alternative arguments about the canine sniff itself.