Court to hear case of Franky the drug dog

WASHINGTON (AP) - January 6, 2011 (WPVI) -- The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a police dog's sniff outside a house being used to grow marijuana violates a suspect's constitutional rights.

Officers used the dog's reaction outside Joelis Jardines' Miami-area house to get a search warrant that led to the discovery of 179 marijuana plants growing inside.

The justices said Friday they will review a Florida Supreme Court ruling that threw out the evidence seized in the search of the house. The Florida court said the work by Franky the drug dog was itself an unconstitutional search.

The Supreme Court has allowed drug dog sniffs in other cases involving airport luggage and routine traffic stops. But this case involves a home, which the court has repeatedly said is entitled to a higher degree of protection.

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u.s. supreme court, drugs, national/world

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