APPEALS COURT RULING OVERTURNS GLENDALE MARIJUANA CONVICTION

Glendale police committed a "purposeful and flagrant" violation of a man's
constitutional rights by searching his motel room under false pretenses, a
state appeals court has ruled.

The ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeals in Milwaukee, which
reversed the felony marijuana conviction of David L. Munroe last week, used
colorful rhetoric to condemn the tactics.

"Sadly, the officers here used their ruse about wanting to check Munroe's
identification to mimic those myrmidons (followers) of King George who
bedeviled the colonists with their General Warrants and Writs of
Assistance, which gave the king's agents license to search everywhere and
everyone," Judge Ralph Adam Fine wrote.

The ruling continued by saying that the officers "were not investigating
information that (Munroe) was involved in any illegal activity; they were
doing a general sweep. Their violation of Munroe's constitutional rights
was purposeful and flagrant."

Glendale Police Chief Thomas Czarnszka said he had not received a copy of
the decision and had no comment on it.

The ruling reversed former Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Russell Stamper,
who refused to disallow the use of marijuana as evidence because of how it
had been obtained.

As is detailed in the appeals court opinion, two Glendale police officers
were on a "hotel interdiction" operation in which they checked the city's
hotels for any illegal activity, but primarily drugs. They decided to knock
on Munroe's door at 7 a.m. May 25, 1999, because records showed he paid
cash for the room without showing a photo identification.

One of the officers told Munroe they were there because he was required to
show a photo ID - even though, the appeals court pointed out, Glendale's
ordinance required only identification, not a photo ID. After Munroe showed
the officer his Social Security card, saying he didn't have a photo ID, the
officer asked if he could search the room for anything illegal.

Munroe said he would "rather not," but later consented to the search after
the officer continued questioning him and said the motel was a haven for
drug activity. The officers found marijuana in Munroe's backpack.

The appeals court pointed out that - although the officers admitted in
court proceedings that they questioned Munroe not fo identification but for
illegal activity - Munroe let them in and cooperated with them because they
said they were only interested in his identification.

Once the officers had confirmed that Munroe had not violated the city's
hotel ordinance, they had no authority to conduct a search and by
continuing to question Munroe and asking to conduct the search, his consent
was no longer voluntary, the court said.

Munroe, 21, who lived in Two Rivers at the time, pleaded guilty to felony
marijuana possession and was sentenced to two years of probation.