The Vermont Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a man charged with felony crack cocaine possession because the justices determined the defendant had been illegally arrested and searched.
In the decision released Friday, the Supreme Court found that Asim Betts had not legally consented to be searched in 2010 after the car he was riding in was stopped by a state trooper in who had been told by an informant a man with the driver had been seen with cocaine.
The trooper told the two that if they did not agree to be searched, the vehicle would be seized and they would be taken into custody while the trooper applied for a search warrant.
The trooper later found crack, but the court says Betts shouldn't have been in custody.
