MAN FREED AFTER DRUG SEARCH RULED ILLEGAL

DURHAM -- After spending 13 months in jail on a cocaine charge, a Durham
man was freed Wednesday when a judge ruled that he was illegally and
unconstitutionally stopped and searched by police last year.

Because of the ruling, the cocaine charge against Harold Lamont Parker was
dismissed and Parker escaped prosecution as a "habitual felon" -- something
that would have increased his punishment had he been convicted.

Superior Court Judge A. Leon Stanback threw out the case after Police
Officer D.B. Ference testified that he stopped Parker as he walked down
Wabash Street with a brown paper bag in August 2000.

Ference said he assumed the bag contained an open beer container. After
stopping Parker, the officer found a rock of crack cocaine.

As it turned out, the beer container had not been opened.

Ference admitted that he quickly realized his mistake.

Still, Parker remained in jail from the time of the incident until
Wednesday because he could not afford a bond that started at $7,500 and was
reduced to $1,500 in May.

During Wednesday's court hearing, Assistant Public Defender Lawrence
Campbell successfully contended that the stop of Parker was illegal and
unconstitutional because there was no reason for it, since the beer
container was closed. Campbell also said a subsequent search of Parker was
unconstitutionally "unreasonable" under the circumstances.

Prosecutor Jim Dornfried said afterward that he accepted Stanback's decision.

But he insisted that he had good reason to prosecute Parker, and that
Parker was not a mere drug user who might benefit more from treatment than
from imprisonment. To underscore the point, Dornfried noted that Parker had
previous convictions for selling drugs, carrying a concealed weapon and
assaults, including a 1993 shooting in which the victim was seriously injured.

"This wasn't just a [drug] user," said Dornfried. "This was a dealer and
someone who hurts people. I saw a serious pattern of violence. It was clear
he had drugs. It was clear he had a record."

Dornfried vowed that he will not hesitate to target Parker as a habitual
felon again if Parker commits another crime.

The prosecutor said he hopes that Wednesday's court action, even though it
ended in Parker's favor, will convince Parker "that this is not the county
in which to commit felonies. If anything good can come out of it, that
would be it. I wish Mr. Parker well."

Dornfried occasionally has been blasted by defense lawyers as an
overzealous prosecutor who often targets small-time drug users as habitual
felons, rather than going after more serious criminals.

While insisting that Parker did not fit the small-time user mold, Dornfried
said Wednesday his office was studying the possibility of sending more drug
offenders to treatment rather than to prison, thus giving them a second chance.