To be clear, what this appellate court and the trial court were asked to consider are different questions. Trial courts find facts. For example, "this guy shot

To be clear, what this appellate court and the trial court were asked to consider are different questions. Trial courts find facts. For example, "this guy shot that guy". Mostly these are considered by a jury, but in preliminary things such as Bentley's probable cause hearing, the trial court judge can act as a fact-finder. Appellate courts interpret laws. For example, strip searching a middle school student for pain medication is an "unreasonble" search under the Fourth Amendment. Lex is demonstrably inaccurate. Bentley argued in appellate court that Lex's alert is insufficient to support probable cause under any circumstances--i.e., a "matter of law". Bentley did not argue in trial court that Lex's alert was unreliable in his situation--i.e., a "matter of fact". The ruling simply reject's Bentley's argument, but preserves future defendant's rights to make the latter argument.