Pubdate: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN) Copyright: 2000, The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. Contact: PO Box 59038, Knoxville, TN 37950-9038 Website: http://www.knoxnews.com/ Forum: http://forums.knoxnews.com/cgi-bin/WebX?knoxnews Author: Laura Ayo, DRUG AGENTS HAD NO SEARCH WARRANT, LAWYERS CLAIM Federal drug agents didn't have a warrant when they went into a Farragut rental home and discovered a marijuana growing operation, lawyers for three men argued Friday. "What we have is illegal entry into the home by a government agent here," defense attorney Richard Gaines told U.S. Magistrate Thomas Phillips. As a result, any evidence seized from the house, as well as the arrest and search warrants obtained after the entry, should be thrown out, Gaines argued. Gaines is one of two attorneys representing Geoffrey Hillman Leek, 25. A three-count indictment charges Leek, Nicholas Edward George, 25, and Hunter Lee Williams, 24, with conspiring between June 1998 and Oct. 27, 1999, to manufacture and possess with intent to distribute marijuana, as well as manufacturing the pot. Leek and George also face charges of manufacturing marijuana and possessing the drug with the intent to distribute it between May 1999 and Oct. 22, 1999. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Folmar argued U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents were acting on exigent circumstances when they entered the house in the 10000 block of Bluegrass Road. The 75-year-old landlady, Folmar explained, received a higher-than-usual water bill for the property and went with her niece Oct. 22 to the house to look for a water leak. When they got inside, they smelled an odor, didn't see furniture and couldn't see in one of the rooms because of black plastic covering the windows and rewired electricity. "They were scared," Folmar said. So they asked federal agents to go inside with them to look for a water leak or damaged property, he argued, and the agents acted in good faith in accompanying them into the home. But Gaines argued if the women thought there was a water leak in the house, they would have called a plumber. Instead, they called the Drug Enforcement Administration because they thought drugs were in the house. The agents, he said, should have gotten a search warrant. Instead, they "jumped on the opportunity to go in the house" and search for drugs, violating Leek's constitutional rights. The information they obtained once inside was then used to obtain arrest and search warrants for other residences, he said. "Each search warrant was based on one illegal entry without a warrant," Gaines said. Defense attorney Kim Tollison, one of two attorneys representing George, adopted Gaines' arguments. James T. Bowman, one of the lawyers for Williams, argued the authorities also didn't have probable cause to search a Meridale Drive residence the men leased in Johnson City while attending East Tennessee State University. The authorities knew Leek and George no longer lived there, he argued. Folmar disagreed, saying Williams admitted Leek and George lived there, but were not home at the time and that the agents' investigation showed the men lived there. The agents found nearly 460 marijuana plants growing in the houses, according to court papers. Phillips took the matter under advisement. Trial is set for Oct. 30. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk