WATONWAN COUNTY DRUG CONVICTION COULD BE OVERTURNED

A Mountain Lake man could have his drug sales conviction overturned in Watonwan County after an appeals court determined law enforcement lacked reasonable suspicion to search his vehicle.  54-year-old Wilford John Boyd, Jr. was convicted on the felony charge last June and sentenced to a stayed prison sentence.  The charge stems from a traffic stop in September 2022 in which a state trooper called in a dog to sniff Boyd’s vehicle and discovered a methamphetamine pipe, scale, alleged sales ledger and packaged meth.  Boyd’s public defender argued the dog sniff was unconstitutional and the Watonwan County District Court erred in denying an attempt to suppress evidence obtained from it.  Minnesota Court of Appeals judges agreed in a ruling Monday, stating the trooper didn’t establish reasonable suspicion to justify the dog sniff.  The dog was brought in after the trooper noticed a butane torch in Boyd’s vehicle and felt that Boyd was acting strangely.  The  judge’s ruling noted that the circumstances supported nothing more than typical nervousness a person might do during a traffic stop.  The trooper never stated suspicion of Boyd being under the influence of anything and that was another factor in the decision.