Tweety Bird center of Mich. legal dispute

DETROIT, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- A Tweety Bird air freshener does not represent legitimate cause for stopping a driver in Michigan, a lawyer contends.

Attorney Richard Helfrick said his client, Michigan resident Lonnie Ray Davis, should not have been stopped by police in Westland, Mich., in January 2006 simply for having an air freshener hanging behind his car's front windshield, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday.

Michigan law forbids drivers from hanging items in car windows as they can potentially block a driver's view.

After being stopped by a Westland police officer for the driving infraction, police allege they found cocaine and a gun inside Davis's car.

Helfrick, who has failed in lower courts to have his client's conviction on related drug and weapons charges overturned, has appealed the ruling to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appellate court initially ruled in December that the state law's wording was too ambiguous, but then reversed itself Dec. 31 without offering any reason, the Free Press reported.