Is it illegal to have too many air fresheners hanging on a car's rearview mirror, a Pittsburgh man's lawyer asked Friday in Butler County court.

Officer Corey Wendel testified that he pulled Marcus G. Troupe, 26, over in a Jeep Grand Cherokee on March 24, 2018, in the 300 block of Third Street after noticing Troupe's windshield view was obstructed by “four air fresheners swaying in the breeze” attached to the rear view mirror.

Wendel said he walked up to the driver's side and smelled marijuana.

Troupe denied having anything, but Wendel said Troupe pulled out a bag of marijuana from his pocket when asked to get out of the car. Wendel searched the car, finding what he suspected was crack cocaine in a hidden component of the glove box.

Along with the drug charges, Troupe is facing an “obstructed window” violation.

But Troupe's attorney Lyle Dresbold questioned Wendel's conclusion that air fresheners obstruct a driver's view.

The hearing was held by Judge Timothy McCune to determine if, as Dresbold argues, Troupe's Fourth Amendment right over unlawful search and seizure was violated when police pulled him and his passenger, Shakor Wilder, over. Wilder faces his own drug charges.

“What classifies specifically a window shield obstruction?” Dresbold asked during cross-examination. “Drivers are permitted to drive their vehicles with things attached?”

“Correct,” Wendel said.

“So I assume it's the swinging nature of the air fresheners that makes them a violation?”

Dresbold later said, “I'm about to approach you with standard air fresheners.”

He then pulled out four pine-tree shaped air fresheners and held them up to the officer.

Opening the wrapping, the courtroom was overwhelmed with the smell of Blackice and Bayside Breeze, two scents that didn't agree with Assistant District Attorney Laura Pitchford, who was prosecuting the case and began to fan the area around her with a pile of papers.

After Dresbold demonstrated how the scented items were displayed in Troupe's car, Wendel agreed that the mini-trees wouldn't block Troupe's direct line of sight.

“Was he driving legally?” Dresbold said.

“Correct.”

“But you were very concerned with these air fresheners?”

“Correct.”

And then later, Dresbold asked Wendel about his true motivation for pulling Troupe over.

“You wanted to get in there?” Dresbold said.

“Correct,” Wendel said.

“You wanted to find drugs.”

Again, Wendel said, “correct.”

“You wanted to search these guys and you were using the obstruction as an excuse.”

“Correct.”

McCune will make a decision sometime in the future on the legality of the stop.