PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - The state Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a woman convicted of having cocaine in a portable toilet at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
The high court in a Wednesday opinion upheld Shelly Stanley’s conviction and sentence.
Police in 2015 responded to a report of a man and woman entering a port-a-potty and overheard what seemed to be a drug transaction inside.
One officer knocked and identified himself, and another saw Stanley put a plastic bag into the toilet after the man inside opened the door. After an officer retrieved the bag of powder from atop a waste pile, analysis confirmed it contained cocaine.
The court rejected arguments from Stanley including that she had an expectation of privacy in the port-a-potty and that authorities’ eavesdropping amounted to a warrantless search.
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