New Hampshire Judge Rules Drug Evidence Seized Illegally

CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire judge this week sided with the American Civil Liberties Union ruling Customs and Border Protection illegally used drug sniffing dogs in a search for illegal immigrants last summer. According to the AP, the group was arrested on Interstate 93 in Woodstock at checkpoints about 90 miles from the Canadian border.

Searches uncovered mostly small amounts of marijuana and other narcotics as part of what authorities said was a search for people living in the country illegally. The agents used drug-sniffing dogs. The drugs were handed over to local police because the amounts confiscated didn't meet the federal threshold for prosecution.

The American Civil Liberties Union argued that the agents used the dog-sniff searches in situations where New Hampshire law enforcement would have been barred from conducting similar searches. The state argued evidence seized in other states obtained by the federal agents is admissible in prosecutions of state criminal charges.

To read the full article, visit US News and World Report.