Pubdate: Sat, 07 Feb 2004
Source: Mobile Register (AL)
Copyright: 2004 Mobile Register.
Contact:  http://www.al.com/mobileregister/today/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/269
Author: Brendan Kirby

COUPLE PLEADS GUILTY TO DRUG TRAFFICKING

Agreement Comes After Judge Denies Request To Throw Out
Evidence

BAY MINETTE -- A Spanish Fort couple have pleaded guilty to marijuana
trafficking after a judge denied their request to throw out evidence
that police seized from their apartment.

As part of the plea, Jason Allen Garza, 28, and Farrah Joan Garza, 26,
will be able to appeal Baldwin County Presiding Circuit Judge James
Reid's decision on the search.

The case was the first in Baldwin since the U.S. Supreme Court
clarified how long police must wait before breaking into a home to
execute a search warrant.

Reid sided with prosecutors, who argued that members of the Baldwin
County Drug Task Force acted appropriately when they seized 9.24
pounds of marijuana from the apartment in May 2002.

Reid on Thursday sentenced each defendant to a split 10-year sentence,
with three years in prison and seven years suspended. They each will
have to serve five years' probation when they get out of prison and
also must pay the minimum fine -- $50,000 each.

Reid on Friday reduced the couple's bond to $10,000 each. They will be
able to stay out of prison while they appeal Reid's decision that the
search was legal.

"I don't think of the Bill of Rights as technical. I think of it as
basic," said defense attorney Tom Haas. "Even in Baldwin County, it's
basic."

Drug Task Force agents testified that they knocked on the door several
times, saw the window blinds move and then broke open the door. Farrah
Garza testified that officers burst in almost immediately after knocking.

The December Supreme Court decision stated that 15 to 20 seconds was a
reasonable amount of time for police in that case to wait before they
broke into the residence. But the justices said the courts must
evaluate the issue case by case, based on the specific facts.

Assistant District Attorney Matt Green said the Baldwin case was
different because police saw movement from inside the apartment and
had reason to believe the drugs might be flushed down the toilet.

"The Fourth Amendment is not relegated to a constitutional stopwatch,"
he said.
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