MAN WHOSE TRAFFIC STOP LED TO DRUG ARREST WINS RETRIAL

Metro police had no valid reason to stop a California motorist later
accused of possessing 40 pounds of methamphetamine, according to a
state appeals court, which ordered a new trial in the 1999 case.

The state Court of Criminal Appeals threw out the conviction of
Gonzalo M. Garcia, 30, who is serving a 20-year sentence in
connection with the largest seizure of methamphetamine in Nashville
history. The drugs had an estimated street value of $1.8 million.

A three-judge appeals court panel also said that Davidson County
Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier, who presided over Garcia's trial
in 2000, should not have let a Houston police officer testify about
his knowledge of illegal drug organizations. That's because no proof
was presented that Garcia belonged to such an organization, the panel
said.

But while the court held that Officer Debra Kohl's stop of Garcia on
Interstate 40 in May 1999 was illegal, it said that Garcia consented
to let Metro police search his vehicle, so the drug shipment can be
used as evidence in a second trial.

All three of the appellate judges said Kohl's observation that
Garcia's vehicle ''wove'' within his lane of traffic did not give her
grounds to stop and detain him for questioning. Therefore, the
appeals court said, Kohl will not be allowed to testify at a retrial
about most of her interaction with the suspect.

Two judges ruled that the search of Garcia's car was legal because he
consented to it after Kohl had written him a warning ticket for
violating ''lane restrictions'' and had told him that he was free to
go.

But Court of Criminal Appeals Judge John Everett Williams said in a
dissenting opinion that Kohl ''flagrantly'' kept Garcia waiting until
she could summon another officer, with a drug-sniffing dog, to the
scene. ''Clearly, this officer had a 'hunch' that proved correct,''
he wrote. ''Nevertheless, 'hunches,' no matter how many times they
are correct, do not equate to a reasonable basis to detain.''

Williams said that Kohl should have let Garcia go once she determined
that he was not intoxicated or a danger to anyone else.

Kohl testified that Garcia said he had left Los Angeles the previous
morning, in a car borrowed from a friend, headed to an unknown
destination in Georgia to visit a cousin. She said that Garcia seemed
to get nervous when she asked if drugs were in the car. She said that
all of those things contributed to her suspicion.

State Attorney General Paul Summers has 60 days to decide whether to
ask the Tennessee Supreme Court to reinstate Garcia's conviction.

Garcia's current release eligibility date is April 2004.