|
Newsbrief:
Federal
Judge
Rules
Cops
Can
Lie
on
the
Stand
10/22/04
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/359/knoxville.shtml
We've all heard about the
"drug exception" to the Fourth Amendment, but what about the "drug exception"
to the laws governing perjury? According to a Sunday report in the
Knoxville (Tennessee) Sentinel-News, that may be okay, too. US District
Court Magistrate Bruce Guyton ruled as much in an opinion in a complex
undercover drug investigation issued last week, the newspaper reported.
A DEA-led task force had
targeted Aaron Brown and his colleagues in a drug conspiracy investigation
and concocted a ruse to get him. The task force used a Tennessee
Highway Patrol trooper who knew all about the conspiracy investigation
to pull over Brown's vehicle on the pretext of a traffic violation.
The trooper seized a pound of cocaine from Brown.
So far, so good. The
trooper's behavior was sleazy, but legal. But then the trooper, Johnny
McDonald, appeared in court to testify against Brown and proceeded to perjure
himself. The only reason he stopped Brown's vehicle, he told the
court, was because Brown had a temporary license tag on the car.
McDonald failed to tell the court that the license tag was a ruse and that
he was stopping Brown because he was the subject of a DEA investigation.
Because McDonald told the
court the only reason for stopping the car was the temporary tag, the presiding
sessions court judge ruled the stop was illegal and threw out the cocaine
as evidence. But when Brown appeared in federal court on drug conspiracy
charges and his attorney asked Magistrate Guyton to follow the sessions
court's lead and throw out the evidence, Guyton demurred.
In a mind-boggling interpretation
of federal law, Guyton held that it is not what officers say on the stand
but what they really know that matters. "The legality of a stop must
be judged by the objective facts known to the seizing officers rather than
by the justifications articulated by them," Guyton wrote, citing a Sixth
US Court of Appeals ruling. Most bizarrely, Magistrate Guyton refused
to label McDonald a liar, instead writing that he found the trooper's testimony
"credible."
While Guyton did not explicitly
address the question of perjury, or "testilying," as it is known in cop-speak,
he implicitly gave the practice a judicial thumbs-up by allowing the contested
cocaine to be entered into evidence. In theory, Officer McDonald
could be prosecuted criminally for perjury, but that is extremely unlikely
to happen.
We wouldn't want little technicalities
like truth and justice get in the way of the drug war, now, would we?
-- END --
|
Issue #359, 10/22/04
Editorial: Twenty Years? |
California Initiative to Rein-In Three-Strikes Law Appears Headed for Victory |
English Drug Reformers Map Route to Post-Prohibition Drug Policy |
In California Senate Race, Judge Jim Gray Gets No Respect from Media, Polls, or Debates, Despite Strong Showing |
DRCNet Book Review: "15 To Life: How I Painted My Way to Freedom," by Tony Papa with Jennifer Wynn Feral House Press, $22.95 HB) |
A Message from the Executive Director on What DRCNet is Planning After Election Day and Why We Need Your Help |
Newsbrief: Kerry Says Feds Should Butt Out of Oregon Laws |
Newsbrief: Alaska Marijuana Initiative Backers Sue Lieutenant Governor Over Election Pamphlet |
Newsbrief: Bush, Kerry, Nader Respond to HEA Query |
Newsbrief: African-American Professional Groups Form Coalition to Change Drug Policies |
Newsbrief: Federal Judge Rules Cops Can Lie on the Stand |
Newsbrief: End of Opium Cultivation Spells Looming Disaster for Burmese Peasants |
Newsbrief: Three Dead in Peru Coca Confrontation -- Cocaleros Occupy Buildings in Provincial City |
Newsbrief: Dutch Medical Marijuana Program Runs Up Against Law of the Market |
Newsbrief: Actress's Marijuana Bust Challenge Causing Waves in South Korea |
Newsbrief: Canadian Government to Reintroduce Marijuana Reform Bill, But Adds Driver Drug Testing, Too |
Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories |
This Week in History |
The DARE Generation Returns to DC: Students for Sensible Drug Policy 2004 National Conference Next Month |
Apply Now to Intern at DRCNet! |
Administrative Assistant: Part-Time Job Opportunity at DRCNet |
The Reformer's Calendar
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