Pubdate: Tue, 01 Oct 2002
Source: Crossville Chronicle, The (TN)
Copyright: 2002 The Crossville Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.crossville-chronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1972
Author: Michael R. Moser

RULING ON TRAFFIC STOP, SEARCH, MAY DETERMINE WHETHER METH DEFENDANT MUST 
SERVE SENTENCE

At what point does a traffic stop cease being a traffic stop? When an 
officer returns a driver's license to a violator and that person signs his 
ticket, does that constitute the end of legally detaining the driver? If an 
officer has a hunch about contraband in the vehicle based on an odor 
emitting from the car, can he return and ask permission to search? Those 
are the questions defendant James Brady wants answered, and the questions 
Cumberland County Criminal Court Judge Leon Burns and General Sessions 
Court Judge Steve Douglas are pondering at the same time.

The answer may very well determine whether Brady goes to prison or not.

Crossville attorney Tom Beesley carried the same argument he presented in 
Douglas' court to Criminal Court Tuesday when Brady sat for a probation 
revocation hearing.

Brady, who was on probation because of manufacturing methamphetamine and 
attempting to manufacture methamphetamine convictions, is fighting new 
charges stemming from a traffic stop May 28 by Trooper Randall Huckeby that 
led to new meth charges.

The new charges are winding their way through General Sessions Court with 
Douglas taking Beesley's efforts to suppress evidence seized in the latest 
stop under advisement.

The hearing last Tuesday was a revocation hearing before Judge Burns who 
also delayed issuing a formal ruling.

Probation Officer Mark Ledbetter's case against Brady might not hinge on 
the ruling, however. In addition to the new charges, Ledbetter filed 
probation violation warrants against Brady for changing addresses without 
notifying the probation office, and for refusing to take a drug screen on 
the night he was arrested.

Beesley argued that Brady had taken and passed three drug screens since 
August 2000.

Huckeby stated he stopped a vehicle in which Brady was a passenger for 
having an expired tag. The trooper said both Brady and the driver of the 
vehicle appeared to be nervous. When he approached the car, he smelled a 
strong odor of chemicals he associated, based on past experience, with the 
manufacturing of methamphetamine.

But he didn't say anything at that time. Instead he opted to observe the 
driver and passenger.

Huckeby said he issued the citation, and started to walk away when he 
suddenly stopped, returned to the vehicle and asked for consent to search. 
The driver was hesitant, asking for an attorney to be present. Brady, 
Huckeby said, asked how the search was going to affect him.

Cumberland County Sheriff's Deputy Al Seitner was called to the scene with 
his drug detection dog which "hit" on the vehicle, indicating the presence 
of drugs. (Beesley is also attacking the qualifications of the dog used in 
the search.)

A resulting search of the vehicle netted residues of a green leafy 
substance Huckeby identified as marijuana and items consistent with the 
making of methamphetamine.

"Once the officer gave him the paperwork back, he was released from the 
stop and free to go," argued Beesley.

Assistant District Attorney General Gary McKenzie countered that Huckeby 
had reasonable suspicion to expand the scope of the traffic stop, based on 
the driver's and passenger's actions and the odors coming from the vehicle.

"It appears a valid stop ... the detection of odors associated with 
methamphetamine, the nervousness of the occupants," Burns commented. 
Assistant DA Kimberly Kelly added that there is also the question of 
whether Brady, as a passenger, has a right to challenge the search of a 
vehicle he was not driving.

If the probation revocation is upheld, Brady will have to serve a five year 
in prison.
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