CHARGES IN DRUG CASE DROPPED

Ex-Suspect Halperin 'Relieved, Vindicated'

Drug-related charges against senior Eric Halperin were dropped
Monday.

Halperin was arrested and charged with trafficking marijuana and
possession of marijuana with the intent to sell Feb. 27 after signing
for a package that contained 27 pounds of marijuana at his current
residence at 1026 W. Trinity Ave.

"I was really relieved and felt vindicated," he said. "Now we just
want to make sure my name is clear with the right sources."

This is the second incident in a year in which drug-related charges
were leveled against a Duke student and subsequently dropped.

Durham Police Department officials declined to comment on the case.
Duke University Police Department Maj. Gloria Graham said she has not
spoken with DPD officers recently and has not heard about charges
being dropped.

At the time of the arrest, Halperin was home with seniors Matt
Goldman, Joe Clark, Blake Rose and Victoria Woodbury, who is not a
resident of the house. Those present said the arrest was a "traumatic"
event.

"It was absolutely absurd how [DPD officers] treated me," Halperin
said. "They paid me no respect."

When a DHL delivery man came to the door, Halperin signed for the
package, which he said was addressed to Amy Bradshaw from Keystone
Electronics in Illinois, and put it down by the door. He noted that
because the house is leased to different tenants every year, he
receives a lot of mail not addressed to current residents.

Five minutes later, there were "screams" and "banging" on the front
door, the seniors said.

"My knee-jerk reaction was: 'Someone is trying to break in,' and [I]
started to run to the back of our house," said Goldman, who was
downstairs with Halperin at the time of the arrest.

Around seven DPD Selective Enforcement Team officers came into the
house, followed by 10 to 15 regularly uniformed officers, who ordered
the students to get on the ground, Halperin said.

Clark, who was upstairs in his room, said when he opened his door to
check what was going on, he found a rifle pointed at his face.

"It looked like a war inside the house," Halperin said, noting that
the house sustained approximately $1,000 worth of damages, including
broken doors, shelves and glass.

Clark and Goldman said the force used was unnecessary.

"It was actually pretty ridiculous," Goldman said. "Just unbelievable.
They were just pointing assault rifles at our heads."

Residents declined to comment on whether or not they will press
charges in the future.

In a Feb. 28 statement DPD's Public Information Officer Kammie Michael
said it was "standard procedure" for SET officers to be present at
"drug raids for safety reasons."

"At some point, [the officers] knew they were staring at innocent
kids, hopelessly unarmed," said Durham attorney Bob Ekstrand, Law '98
and a lecturing fellow at the School of Law. "I want police to be
protective and cautious, always.... But there was no indication that
any of [the students] were armed."

Ekstrand did not represent the students when charges were filed. He
did, however, offer advice to the students at the request of a
resident's mother.

Halperin, Goldman and Clark said they were taken to the back of the
house separately and asked to strip naked.

"They wanted to make sure we weren't hiding drugs in any body
cavities," Goldman said.

The five students were handcuffed and placed on the couch as officers
searched the house. Halperin said he believes DPD officers were
looking for drug paraphernalia. According to DPD's
incident/investigation report, cigarette papers and a box label were
seized from the property.

Clark said at one point he told an officer he would stake his life
that Halperin is innocent.

"[The officer] said, 'Well, you'll be dead tomorrow,'" Clark
recalled.

Halperin was arrested and driven to the police station. He was forced
to sit on the floor of the police vehicle with hands handcuffed behind
his back for the duration of the ride.

Once at the station, Halperin said he was taken into an interrogation
room, and although his lawyer Bill Thomas arrived at the station as
well, they were not allowed to meet. The senior was eventually taken
to the county jail through a back door.

He was released on a $25,000 bond Feb. 27 from the Durham County
Jail.

Thomas, who has previously worked on a similar case, assured Halperin
that DPD did not have any evidence against him, Halperin said. Thomas
could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

"They just wanted to arrest someone, maybe to make themselves look
better," Halperin said. "I was worried because I don't trust the
Durham justice system after [former Durham district attorney Mike]
Nifong."

The night of the arrest, the six other students living at the
residence were advised by Ekstrand to stay away from the house for
fear that someone else would be arrested and brought to DPD for
questioning.

"I had no idea what the police were going to do," he said. "I thought
that certainly, if the police thought the package was supposed to go
to this house that they would at least want to ask more questions."

Ekstrand met with the housemates approximately four hours after the
arrest was made and informed the seniors that DPD did not believe
Halperin was at fault.

"But for some reason they still were suspicious that someone else in
the house ordered this package of drugs," Goldman said.

Ekstrand said he was informed Feb. 28 that no one else would be
charged and no residents were approached by DPD officers again.

DPD officers never returned to the house, the seniors
said.

The Trinity Avenue residents said Duke administrators were
"shockingly" supportive.

"The University acted correctly," Halperin said, noting that he met
with Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, the day of and
the day after his arrest. He added that Moneta informed him of the
University's support and that the arrest would not affect his
graduation date.

Other residents said they were also contacted by Student Affairs
officials the day of the arrest.

Halperin was not suspended by Duke during the investigation, even
though he had been charged with a felony.

Director of Judicial Affairs Stephen Bryan declined to comment on the
case.

"As far as I'm concerned, [Halperin is] innocent until proven guilty,
and we needed to respond on that premise," Moneta said. "We've been
supporting Eric through this process, and we're thrilled the charges
were dropped."

Goldman said administrators acted differently than they had in the
past, citing the arrest of a junior last year and the Duke lacrosse
case as previous examples.

Last year, the charged student was suspended immediately after he was
arrested for signing a package containing 17 pounds of marijuana April
3, 2007. All charges were dropped April 16, 2007 because of
insufficient evidence.

"[The cases] may appear similar, but from the police's perspective,
they would treat them as independent cases," Moneta said.

Both Halperin and the student arrested last year are members of the
Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, but Halperin said he believes the
similarity is a coincidence.

Halperin noted that the national chapter of ATO requested that he be
suspended from the fraternity following the arrest, but current
President Peter Allen, a junior, vouched for Halperin's innocence and
did not suspend him.

"The fact that this thing can happen twice in a year shows that
someone is clearly at fault," Goldman said. "I'm suspicious. There's
something going on at DHL and Durham police. Who the hell knows what
they're doing."

Graham said she does not believe Duke students are being
targeted.

"I'm sure we will look into the specifics of the case, investigate the
similarities of the situations," she said. "In situations like this,
we never know what warrants charges being dropped."