Posted on 04/05/2002 3:09:57 AM PST by rw4site
A judge's ruling Thursday said it's OK for officers to use police dogs to sniff for drugs on private property without a search warrant.
State District Judge Joan Huffman refused to elaborate after denying a request to throw out evidence collected at the home of a Houston motorcycle gang member accused of possessing methamphetamines.
Police had permission to search the home, court records show, but their warrant was obtained in part because a drug-sniffing dog had detected the odor of narcotics at the garage door.
Defense attorneys, who said the sniffing amounted to an illegal search, blasted the decision as an attack on privacy.
"This ruling allows the police the keys to our houses and obliterates the expectation of privacy that we've enjoyed in this country," said defense attorney Philip Hilder.
Assistant District Attorney Sally Ring argued in court that police have the right to be outside a home on walkways and front porches, areas where the general public can approach a house that is not fenced or posted with "Keep Out" signs.
Huffman's ruling came in a hearing in the case of David Gregory Smith, 39, of the 500 block of Shawnee, and Kristian Stauffer, 29, of the 3300 block of Ashton Park. Both are charged with possessing methamphetamines.
Police received permission from state District Judge Ted Poe to search Smith's house after a police dog "alerted" to the odor of drugs at his home, according to court records. The Oct. 4, 2000, search was one of several conducted as part of an 11-month investigation by the Harris County Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force into alleged drug activity by the Bandidos.
Jury selection is expected to begin in Smith's trial today. Stauffer is considering a plea agreement, said her attorney, Edward Mallett. Stauffer also is charged with delivery of methamphetamines.
Mallett and Hilder both said they would appeal Huffman's decision.
In another hearing Jan. 18, U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes suppressed evidence gathered with one of the search warrants for another Bandidos member after a drug-sniffing dog was taken to his home without a judge's permission.
Hughes said evidence seized in that search was not clearly stipulated in the search warrant. He also said that the "dog use is a search." Ring said Hughes' ruling has no jurisdiction in state court.
Its over, the needle is playing on the empty dead space of the record, between the label and the end of the song. There's nothing left, and we are being ruled by whim and the "rule of man".
You might need one or two endcaps for standpipes and the like, but if you have exactly twice as many caps as short lengths of pipe then even I would have questions.
Of course anybody who knows this would be excluded from the jury and the prosecuter sure isn't going to tell anyone.
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