JUDGE CONSIDERS WARRANT QUESTIONS IN DRUG BUST

EVERGREEN -- Charges against a Conecuh County man arrested during a
videotaped raid at a marijuana-filled home should be thrown out because
investigators failed to allow the suspect a chance to respond to their
knocks at his door, a defense attorney argued Tuesday.

Last February, officers found 31 marijuana plants growing in large buckets
in a room of James Odom's house, complete with artificial lighting in place
to cultivate the crop, according to testimony Tuesday. Attorneys Paul
Hardin and Phil San chez argued Tuesday in Conecuh County District Court
that before the plants were discovered, officers knocked open the door to
Odom's home without allowing him the required opportunity to admit them
voluntarily. He was subsequently indicted on drug trafficking charges.

District Attorney Tommy Chapman argued that the officers present --
including Conecuh County Sheriff Tracy Hawsey -- acted properly, entering
the residence quickly, because they believed officers would be in danger if
they waited.

Hawsey testified that he had learned that Odom kept a .357-caliber Magnum
pistol.

"I felt there was extreme danger to my officers and myself," Hawsey
testified. "We later found 26 pounds of marijuana."

He acknowledged under cross-examination that an informant had never
indicated Odom could be dangerous and said that danger is possible whenever
a search warrant is issued.

The sheriff said an officer "knocked on the door three to five times with
his elbow" before the door was knocked open.

Attorneys played a videotape officers used to record the raid. It shows
that officers took less than a minute to secure the home, which is in a
remote area near Lenox.

As the officers approach the door at 8:45:34 p.m., two figures can be seen
in the house through a window. Someone shouts: "Kick the door."

Later another says: "Police, search warrant" as the door is knocked open.
The videotape shows 8:45:39. Three people sitting inside -- Odom, his
16-year-old daughter and a juvenile male -- are shoved to the floor and
handcuffed. By 8:45:52, officers say the scene is "secure."

Later, an officer recovered the .357 handgun, Hawsey testified. The
occupants of the house offered no resistance and showed no aggression, he
testified.

Officers saw a figure in the window, Hawsey said, and saw the figure "dart
away" as if he could have been going for a gun.

Hardin said, "Adolf Hitler would give them a promotion -- every one of them."

Hawsey responded to the remark after the hearing: "Hundreds of officers
have died in the line of duty. I believed without a doubt people's lives
were in danger, and in that case, knock and announce is not necessary."

Sanchez said there was no evidence Odom was a threat to anyone and that
officers did not properly knock or announce before forcing the door open.

"In this case, there was no notice." Sanchez said. "State and federal law
shows a long-standing reverence for the right of privacy in our own homes."

District Judge Jeff Brock said he would take the arguments under
advisement. A ruling could be issued by the end of the week.