Thursday, August 19, 2004

# Mirsada Buric-Adam at The (Arizona) Daily Courier - Judge tosses out evidence in Howell case - police broke into Robert Howell's house at 6:30am after giving him five seconds to answer the door. He fired at them, unfortunately missing. The local judge did the right thing. Yay! [claire] Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Janis Sterling ruled that the state cannot use evidence police obtained while executing two search warrants during a drug raid on Howell's home. Kenneth Ray, one of Howell's lawyers, called the ruling extraordinary. "All evidence from the point of their efforts to execute the search warrant until the last piece of evidence was taken out of that house are suppressed," he said. "They cannot use the gun, they cannot use my client's statements and they cannot use anything that was the fruit of the execution of that search warrant." Ray said the state can appeal this decision only if it files a motion to dismiss the case and the court grants it. This means that the 51-year-old Prescott man, who faces multiple felony charges in connection with the incident, most likely will not face a jury trial, which was to commence on Aug. 24. [End the War on Freedom] This is very good news, and I note that it happened in Prescott, Arizona--a very nice town located in one of the more civilized parts of the world. 3:40:45 PM    comment () New at Reason. Maia Szalavitz studies the DEA's war on prescribing doctors. [Hit & Run] A look at who the Feds are attacking in their "war on drugs." It's not just the doctors, but their patients as well. 3:31:24 PM    comment ()

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