APPEALS COURT TOSSES GUN AND DRUG CONVICTIONS

Police Stopped The Man Because They Thought He Was Someone Else, Then
Charged Him After Finding Cocaine In His Car

The Virginia Court of Appeals has reversed drug and gun convictions against
a Roanoke man caught up in a massive manhunt for a suspect in a
gang-related murder two years ago.

Demond Allen Ramey was pulled over by Roanoke police Aug. 21, 1999, because
he matched the general description of Timothy "Nippy" Buford, who at the
time was being sought in connection with a fatal shooting the night before
at a Northwest Roanoke nightclub.

Although police soon determined that Ramey had nothing to do with the
shooting, they arrested him anyway after finding cocaine and a firearm in
his car.

Police may stop and question someone only if they have a "reasonable,
articulable suspicion" that the person is involved in criminal activity.
Ramey's attorney, Assistant Public Defender John Varney, argued that police
did not have enough information to meet that standard.

Ramey was stopped based on a police dispatch advising officers to be on the
lookout for a certain car driven by a white woman with a black male
passenger who was "somehow" involved in the shooting.

That was not enough to justify a stop, appeals Judge Steve Agee wrote in a
decision released Tuesday. As a result, the court held, Circuit Judge
Jonathan Apgar should have suppressed the evidence taken from Ramey's car.

It was not clear Wednesday if Ramey - who was sentenced to five years in
prison for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and possession
of a firearm - will face trial again. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Wes
Nance had not seen the court's decision, but said it apparently would be
difficult to proceed given the ruling.

Buford was arrested about three weeks after the shooting. He is serving 23
years in prison for the murder of 19-year-old Prentise Jordan. Some say the
nightclub brawl and shooting that followed was the result of tension
between two rival gangs - the LTP from the Lincoln Terrace housing project
and the VH1 from the Villa Heights neighborhood.

At the time, police and prosecutors said the incident was not directly
gang-related. Yet on appeal, an assistant attorney general argued that
police were justified in stopping Ramey because of the "great public danger.