PORTLAND – Police officers may search a minor without a warrant solely because he is smoking, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled unanimously in the case of a Waterville police officer who frisked a 16-year-old boy who was smoking and found a butterfly knife concealed illegally in his back pocket. The teen-ager was charged with trafficking in dangerous knives, but no smoking charge was brought.

The Supreme Court’s ruling overturned an earlier decision by a Superior Court justice who had granted the teen’s request to throw out the evidence.

Because the boy had entered a conditional guilty plea, the Supreme Court’s ruling means his conviction will stand. He received a suspended sentence.

Kennebec County District Attorney David Crook said it’s reasonable for an officer to suspect that a minor who is smoking might have a pack of cigarettes.

“It’s a pretty simple case, the question being: If a police officer sees an underage minor smoking a cigarette, can he search him for the cigarettes? And what happens if he finds something other than cigarettes?” Crook said.

The search happened in September 1999 when Officer Gene Allen saw a teen-ager smoking on a street corner in Waterville. The teen admitted being only 16, and Allen frisked him for more cigarettes and found the knife.

The defense contended the officer did not have the right to search the teen without a warrant, arguing that the Legislature has not defined cigarettes possessed by a minor as contraband.

The Legislature has expressly classified some items – such as marijuana and illegally obtained fish and wildlife – as contraband subject to seizure.

The state argued that the cigarettes should be considered contraband because state law prohibits minors from possessing them unless they are transporting them on an employer’s behalf.

Writing for the court, Justice Howard Dana said in the unanimous decision that other jurisdictions have considered items contraband even though state law has not explicitly classified them as such.

“We conclude that cigarettes in Michael’s possession would be contraband because the Legislature has made it illegal for him to possess them,” Dana wrote.

The court also ruled that Allen did not need a warrant because the contraband cigarettes could have been removed, hidden or destroyed before a warrant was issued.

Brad Pattershall, the teen’s lawyer, said the decision makes state laws on which items are contraband superfluous.

“I’d prefer to have the people I vote for decide what is and what is not contraband,” he said.

“I definitely don’t advocate smoking or using chewing tobacco, but I just don’t think that should be a justification for officers to put their hands in [minors’] pockets and frisk them.”

Crook said he didn’t expect that the ruling would have any big impact on the way police officers go about their work.

“It’s probably doing nothing but reaffirming the practice of law enforcement officers to say to a minor who’s smoking, ‘Give me your cigarettes,’ as they’re issuing a summons,” he said.