Minnesota Supreme Court Upholds Drug Case Decision For Avon Man

ST. PAUL (AP) - The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled a narcotics officer didn't violate Fourth Amendment search and seizure rules when he opened a package containing cocaine and methamphetamine at an airport.

The court upheld a county court decision Wednesday that the removal of the package from a conveyor belt wasn't a seizure and sniffing by a police dog wasn't a search in the 2011 incident. Twenty-three-year-old Corey Eichers of Avon later received the package and was convicted of first-degree controlled substance crime. He was sentenced to 7  1/2 years in prison.

Eichers argued in the lawsuit that the officer didn't have authority to remove and open the package at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. It was sent via UPS air mail and a police dog indicated it contained drugs.