Pubdate: Tue, 09 Apr 2002
Source: Observer, The (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The Observer
Contact:  http://observertoday.com/home.asp
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2118

COLORADO SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO ORDER BOOK STORE TO TURN OVER SALES RECORDS

DENVER (AP) -- The Colorado Supreme Court refused to order a bookstore to 
turn over its sales records to police on Monday, overturning a lower court 
decision demanding the records as part of a drug investigation.

In a 53-page ruling, the court said police erred when they went after the 
records to establish which books a suspect had purchased.

The First Amendment and the state Constitution "protect an individual's 
fundamental right to purchase books anonymously, free from governmental 
interference," the court ruled.

The decision overturns a Denver district judge who ordered Tattered Cover 
Book Store owner Joyce Meskis to tell police who purchased two books on 
drug manufacturing from her store.

Meskis argued that the order violated her customers' First Amendment rights.

Attorneys for police and prosecutors said the investigators had no other 
way to prove who owned the book, which they said is critical to their 
investigation.

Police sought the records after finding an envelope from the bookstore 
outside a mobile home they had raided. Inside the home were a 
methamphetamine lab and the drug-making how-to books.

The envelope was printed with an invoice number and the trailer's address, 
but no name. Police found no fingerprints on the book and obtained a search 
warrant to find out who ordered it. The court said Monday that the search 
warrant should never have been issued.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom