TRENTON — When Pablo Carvajal told police he didn’t own the duffel bag on a bus he had taken from Florida to Union City, they opened it and found it did belong to him — and was filled with 26 ounces of heroin. Today, the state Supreme Court said after denying the bag was his, the Florida man could...
A 2007 photo of the Justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court hearing arguments in Trenton.
TRENTON — When Pablo Carvajal told police he didn’t own the duffel bag on a bus he had taken from Florida to Union City, they opened it and found it did belong to him — and was filled with 26 ounces of heroin.
Today, the state Supreme Court said after denying the bag was his, the Florida man could not claim police had illegally searched it.
Highlighting an exception to protections offered by defendants claiming illegal searches and seizures, the court, in a 6-0 decision, said once the duffel bag was deemed abandoned, police had justification to search it — and Carvajal could not challenge that search to have evidence suppressed.
The case began in November 2006 when Union City officers set up surveillance at the local bus station after getting a tip that a drug courier from Miami would be stopping there.
The police spotted Carvajal, who matched the description given of the courier. Three officers approached and one, Detective Walter Laurencio, asked him to answer some questions. He consented.
Carvajal told Laurencio he was on his way to New York and was not carrying luggage. He said he planned to buy clothing in New York and showed the officer a bank card and his driver’s license.
The bus driver told Laurencio that passengers had boarding passes and those with luggage would have claim tickets. When Carvajal could only produce a boarding pass with someone else’s name on it, the detective asked the 15 or 20 other passengers to show their claim tickets so he could verify their luggage.
Only one piece of luggage — the duffel bag — remained unclaimed. Carvajal denied it was his. A K-9 drug-detecting dog then reacted to the duffel bag. Based on that and the fact that the bag was apparently abandoned, Laurencio and another detective searched the duffel and found 26 ounces of heroin.
They also found a backpack containing a health card in Carvajal’s name and a bank business card with an account number on it. That number matched one on a duplicate card in Carvajal’s wallet.
The Florida man ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree possession with intent to distribute heroin and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Carvajal told the high court he did not “lose his right to contest the search of the luggage based upon his failure to claim ownership of the bag in response to police questioning.” The justices saw it otherwise.
Carvajal’s attorney could not be reached for comment today.