A Drew County man convicted in 2021 of drug and weapons charges failed to convince the Arkansas Court of Appeals that his motion to suppress the evidence in his case was wrongly denied.
Joshua Steven Fleming, 47, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of three counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms that followed a traffic stop by a Monticello Police Officer on Feb. 12, 2021.
Trial testimony indicated that Fleming had a suspended driver’s license and a failure to appear warrant from Cabot and while he was being questioned, another Monticello officer arrived with a drug dog, who alerted on Flemings’ vehicle three different times at three different locations.
Fleming sought to have the drug and weapon evidence suppressed, contending that the dog was allowed to sniff the inside of his car without any reason of suspicion at that point. His motion to suppress the evidence was denied and he appealed that ruling.
The State Supreme Court has ruled that when a trained drug dog alerts on a vehicle, that by itself is enough to establish probable cause.
Also, officer body camera footage showed that the dog alerted three times before he ever approach the open door of Fleming’s car.
Fleming will be eligible to apply for parole on Oct. 17, 2024.
