Pubdate: Thu, 25 May 2006
Source: Times Union (Albany, NY)
Copyright: 2006 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Contact: http://www.timesunion.com/forms/emaileditor.asp
Website: http://www.timesunion.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/452
Author: Michele Morgan Bolton, Staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/David+Soares (David Soares)

SEARCH ILLEGAL IN GUN, DRUG ARREST

Judge tosses indictment of city man, saying cop didn't have just cause

ALBANY -- Albany County Judge Thomas A. Breslin dismissed a gun and 
drug possession case on Wednesday, ruling that a city police officer 
stopped and searched a man in February without just cause.

Rayquinshawn Harrison allegedly had a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic 
handgun and 38 packets of marijuana in his overcoat.

"It wasn't even a close call," said his attorney, Cheryl F. Coleman. 
"I know police think they have to hold the line ... but if this 
search had been upheld, it would have been open season on anybody 
walking the streets of Arbor Hill."

Officer Laurence Heid and a state trooper were patrolling the 
neighborhood on Feb. 28 when they stopped Harrison on Livingston 
Avenue because he was acting suspiciously, swinging one arm while 
protecting something in his pocket with the other arm, according to 
Assistant District Attorney Francisco Calderon. He said when Heid 
told Harrison he wanted to search him and reached out a hand, 
Harrison blocked the police officer with his own hand.

"I stand by the officer," Calderon said. "He sees a guy reaching into 
his pocket, the biggest concern is his safety."

Heid had reasons to stop and search Harrison, who is well-known to 
police, Calderon said. And it was only after he discovered the pot in 
Harrison's outer coat pocket, and had handcuffed him, that Heid found 
the gun loaded with five rounds in an inside coat pocket, prosecutors said.

Coleman said Heid testified under oath that he'd made up his mind to 
search the man before even leaving his cruiser. "He said to the 
trooper, 'I bet that guy has a gun,' " she said. "Case law is clear 
that a stop-and-frisk is only justified by 'specific and articulable 
inferences.' "

"His nervousness and stiff arm do not even come close," she added.

Sanctioning a search based on those facts would open the door to 
"hunch frisks," Coleman said.

Dismissal of the case comes as District Attorney David Soares' office 
has stepped up its prosecutions under Operation Speeding Bullet to 
get guns off the street.

"We felt we had a good case, and based on our review of it, we 
thought the officer acted appropriately," Soares said. "The judge 
made a decision we have to respect, but that will not deter us from 
doing our jobs."

"I view this as a minor setback," he said.

Police Chief James Tuffey said the case will be reviewed internally 
today. "We'll talk to the officer and find out what happened," Tuffey said.

Following a hearing in April, Breslin ruled that a jury couldn't see 
or hear the evidence against Harrison because of the manner in which 
it was obtained. On Wednesday, the judge dismissed the indictment 
completely at Coleman's request.

Calderon said he didn't object to the dismissal because without the 
evidence there was no case.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman