Pubdate: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 Source: Trentonian, The (NJ) Copyright: 2000 The Trentonian Address: 600 Perry St, Trenton, NJ 08618 Feedback: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1697&pag=460&dept_ID=44436 Website: http://www.trentonian.com Author: Tony Wilson, Staff Writer Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1841/a03.html ON SECOND THOUGHT An appeals court ruling on racial profiling stymied the trial of two black drug suspects who assert they were profiled. The Mercer County trial of two black drug-dealing suspects -- who claim they were racially targeted by two black state troopers -- ended abruptly yesterday because of a new appeals court ruling on the racial profiling issue. "This case is not ripe for trial," declared Superior Court Judge Paul T. Koenig Jr. in dismissing the jury panel during the second day of the jury-selection process. Koenig postponed the trial indefinitely in the wake of three appeals court opinions on Wednesday that dope-dealing suspects stopped by police may now seek profiling information against the officers in light of the 1999 Attorney General's report confirming that the practice existed. Twice previously, Koenig had denied defense motions to throw out the drug evidence against the two defendants on racial profiling grounds. On both of those occasions, the judge said he believed Troopers Glynn Moore and Marc Stephens in their pre-trial testimony that they stopped the defendants not because of their race, but because their car was clocked at 80 mph in a 55-mph zone on the New Jersey Turnpike in Mercer County on June 1, 1997. However, that was prior to Wednesday's opinions by Appellate Division Judges Edwin Stern, Ariel Rodriguez and Robert Fall applying the Attorney General's interim report on profiling to the past arrests and convictions of minorities on drug charges. "I'd be spittin' in the wind to force this case to go to trial now," said Koenig in granting a defense motion to delay the trial to seek information on whether a State Police policy of profiling applies to the case. Assistant Prosecutor Skylar Weissman unsuccessfully asked Koenig to proceed with the case yesterday, citing the troopers' pre-trial testimony that while they knew about widespread profiling by other troopers, they never engaged in the practice themselves. Defense lawyer Robin Lord said she would use the additional time to gather data on the two troopers, such as the race of those they arrested in past turnpike stops. The two defendants, Christopher Morris, 27, and Andre London, 33, both of Coatesville, Pa., face prison terms of 20 years if convicted on the first-degree drug charges. They could get life terms if sentenced as persistent felons because of previous drug convictions, the prosecutor said. The postponement marks the second time the trial has been delayed in two months. On Oct. 18, Koenig ordered a mistrial because jurors were overheard -- by a court aide outside the jury room -- discussing the case against the judge's instructions. In addition, London's lawyer, Timothy Howes, yesterday noted that the trial must be further delayed because, under a new court rule, as the municipal prosecutor of Washington Township he can no longer continue representing a criminal defendants in Mercer County after Jan. 1. "I don't think this case will ever see a jury now," Howes said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D