SCHENECTADY COUNTY Court rejects search results Charges dropped despite load of drugs in vehicle BY MICHAEL LAENDOLA Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Michael Lamendola at 395-3114 or lamend@dailygazette.com.
A state appeals court ruled Thursday that a Schenectady County sheriff’s deputy did not have probable cause to stop a Michigan man’s car, found to have three pounds of drugs inside. As a result, Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney said he will drop felony drug charges against Matthew J. Davis, of St. John’s, Mich. “If the search and seizure is ruled to be invalid, there is no case,” he said. The Appellate Division sided with a 2007 ruling by Schenectady County Judicial Hearing Judge Angelo Lomanto. Lomanto found that Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Fluty had no right to stop Davis, 23, in 2006 on Duanesburg Churches Road as part of a routine patrol. Davis was leaving a concert in Duanesburg called the Gathering of the Vibes. Fluty said Davis’ vehicle, a Jeep with oversized tires, crossed the road’s right side white line as it passed the deputy’s vehicle. Fluty followed the Jeep for approximately half a mile and saw it cross the white line three or four more times. After stopping Davis, Fluty said he smelled marijuana. Davis then admitted that he had drugs in the car. A passenger in the car, Lyndsay Jayne Hillers, of 52 Catherine St., Saratoga Springs, then produced two pounds of hallucinogenic mushrooms and one pound of marijuana. A Schenectady County grand jury later handed up an indictment against Davis, charging him with Class A-II felony possession of a controlled substance, Class D felony possession of marijuana and a vehicle and traffic code violation. Davis’ attorney, Terence Kindlon, challenged Fluty’s right to stop Davis during the evidence suppression hearing before Lomanto, saying that the deputy did not have probable cause to search the vehicle. Lomanto concluded that the stop was unjustified because Davis did not violate the vehicle and traffi c law. Carney appealed. The appeals court, while not disputing that a vehicle can be stopped after crossing a white line, said the deputy needed additional cause to.............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01003
Either our appeals court is screwed up, the gazette isn't reporting accurately or I just plain can't comprehend!!!
The cop stopped a vehicle that was weaving and crossing the white line 3 or 4 times, right? When he stops the vehicle he smells pot, right? From how the article reads, the driver and passenger, ADMITTED and REVEALED the drugs, right? Then the appeals court, while not disputing that a vehicle can be stopped after crossing a white line, said the deputy needed additional cause! ????????
What did the cop actually do wrong? Am I missing something here?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The liberal court system seems to side with the guilty drug pushers more than they do the police. The deputy did it right, he did his job and for some reason the liberal court declared it an illegal search. Was it payback for someone, did the drug dealers promise to contribute money to the judges campaign, our court system is seriously flawed IMHO.
The police officer did nothing wrong........THE COURT/JUDGE....decide 'the rest of your life'............cops are no more than grocery baggers....... however......I could never be a 'bagger'.....I would MAKE myself the judge and jury.........that is why I am a nurse.....JMHO......
the 'intricacies' of the law are made via 'taxpayer'/lawyer complaints etc..........
we are where we are due to the lack of 'seeing' the thin blue line of truth.........
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
I'm a nurse because I can accept those folks for their sickness and help them......to nurse them back to health
trying to do that as a police officer?.....nah,,,,I wouldn't be good at it.....how do you nurse them back to health/right mindedness......you dont....it's all in the judges/legislators hands........
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
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