Researchers trace the rise of "testilying" to a 1961 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that evidence obtained from an illegal search can't be used in court. After that, there was no decline in arrests, but a big increase in "dropsy" testimony — officers swearing they frisked a suspect because they saw him drop a bag of drugs on the sidewalk. Maybe they saw a bulge in a suspect's clothing and thought it was a gun. Maybe they pulled someone over for a minor traffic infraction and the contraband was in plain sight. (For what it's worth, Sperling said he had stashed the backpack full of marijuana under his seat — and that he used his turn signal.)