John Ross on the ‘Crime’ of Having a Hidden Compartment in Your Car

Last fall, Ohio state troopers pulled 30-year-old
Norman Gurley over for speeding. Detecting an “overwhelming smell
of raw marijuana,” officers spent hours searching the vehicle and
found no contraband. But they did discover an empty secret
compartment. For that, police hauled Gurley, who has no criminal
record, off to jail. As John Ross points out, Gurley’s arrest
struck more than a few people as an abuse of power. George
Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley calls the
incident “part of the expanding criminalization of America where
virtually any act can be charged as a crime by police.”

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