Pubdate: Fri, 13 May 2005
Source: Rutland Herald (VT)
Copyright: 2005 Rutland Herald
Contact:  http://www.rutlandherald.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/892
Author: Associated Press

FELONY POT CHARGES DISMISSED; COERCIVE POLICE TACTICS CITED

BARRE -- A judge has dismissed felony drug charges against a Moretown
man after ruling that police used coercive tactics to elicit an
involuntary confession.

John Summers -- a British immigrant who faced deportation if convicted
of the felony drug charge -- told Vermont State Police last August
that he was responsible for the 28 marijuana plants growing in a plot
near his home.

The felony charge carried a possible 15-year prison
sentence.

Defense lawyer Richard Rubin filed a motion to suppress Summers'
admission, saying the confession came after a police threat that
"overcame (the defendant's) free will not to give a statement."

At issue was whether statements made by Trooper Michael Manley
constituted a threat, and whether or not that threat forced Summers to
relinquish his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

The case stemmed from a helicopter flyover in which members of the
Vermont State Police Marijuana Eradication Response Team observed
marijuana plants growing along the edge of a field near Summers' home.

Summers said during a May 2 motion hearing that Trooper Michael Manley
threatened to "play hardball" and arrest everyone in the house if
Summers refused to admit to tending the marijuana plot.

Summers' wife and 16-year-old daughter and friend of his daughter were
in the home at the time.

"I was sufficiently unmanned by comments about hardball and taking
everyone away that despite the fact I knew it was not in my best
interest, I admitted they were mine," Summers said.

In a written ruling filed May 6 in Vermont District Court in Barre,
Judge Geoffrey Crawford said that Manley's threat was baseless.

"He did not have a lawful basis to arrest everyone in the house," the
judge wrote.

Citing case law in Vermont and other states, Crawford ruled that a
confession obtained after a threat to arrest a family member is only
valid if the police "had an objective good faith basis for threatening
to arrest the family member." 
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