CASES OVERTURNED BASED ON POLICE TIPS

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision curbing the use of tips in police
searches prompted the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Monday to overturn two 1995
drug convictions in Westmoreland County.

In split decisions, the court overturned the convictions of Constance L.
Goodwin of Jeannette on charges of delivery and possession with intent to
deliver marijuana; and Lance M. White Sr. of New Kensington on charges of
delivery and possession with intent to deliver crack cocaine.

Goodwin was sentenced by Judge Gary Caruso to 1 1/2 to 5 years in prison
and White was sentenced by Caruso to 3 1/2 to 10 years in prison.

Attempts to reach District Attorney John Peck for comment last night were
unsuccessful.

In the majority arguments remanding the cases back to Common Pleas Court,
the justices cited a March 29 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Miami, Fla.,
case.

In Florida vs. J.L. 2000, an anonymous tipster called Miami police in 1995
alerting them that one of three young black men at a bus stop was carrying a
gun, adding that he was wearing a plaid shirt. Officers saw nothing
suspicious, but patted down a youth wearing plaid and found a gun.

The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the Florida ruling that the search
was unconstitutional and said nameless telephone tips, without verification
by the police, are not enough to justify a frisk and therefore violate a
person's Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches.

"That the allegation about the gun turned out to be correct does not suggest
that the officers, prior to the frisks, had reasonable basis for suspecting
J.L. of engaging in unlawful conduct," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote.

Goodwin was arrested Nov. 8, 1993, by state police in Greensburg after a tip
from an anonymous caller that a woman matching Goodwin's description and
driving a blue Ford Mustang matching Goodwin's would be leaving her office
during a lunch break that day and carrying a quarter-pound of marijuana in a
pink bag in her car.

Police subsequently staked out the parking garage where Goodwin worked and
at 12:10 p.m. Nov. 8 she left the office building. Troopers followed her and
stopped the car.

Police said Goodwin agreed to allow them to search the car.

"When Goodwin removed the pink bag from the car, a trooper told her that
they would search the bag since it had been inside the car. Goodwin then
stated that drugs were in the bag ... the trooper opened the bag and found
marijuana," court documents said.

Police said Goodwin admitted selling marijuana to a juvenile male and
another man in August 1993. Her 1995 conviction before Caruso was on the
August 1993 drug sale to the minor.

In Goodwin's appeal, which was initially rejected by Caruso and again in
1996 by state Superior Court, she argued that she was stopped without
"requisite reasonable suspicion that she was engaged in criminal activity."
Goodwin argued that her confession that she was involved in a August drug
sale should be suppressed because it came during an illegal search.

The state Supreme Court agreed.

" ... An anonymous tip alone, given its unreliability, is insufficient to
give rise to reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot," wrote
Justice Russell Nigro in the majority opinion.

"Thus, the police needed `something more' than just the anonymous tip to
justify conducting an investigatory stop of Goodwin. The police, however,
saw no unusual activity while they watched Goodwin and had no reason
independent of the anonymous tip to suspect that criminal activity was
afoot."

Justices Ronald Castille and Sandra Schultz Newman dissented.

White was arrested July 12, 1994, after New Kensington Police Officer Traci
Matthews responded to an anonymous call to Westmoreland Emergency Management
(911) about possible drug transaction at a public housing complex.

The caller said a black male, wearing a white shirt and white shorts, would
exit the complex with drugs in his possession and get on a girl's black
bicycle, the court said.

Matthews observed White, dressed in a white shirt and white shorts, leave
the complex and get on a girl's bike.

Matthews stopped White to question him and began patting him down for
weapons. She said before she completed her search, White became nervous and
ran.

A short time later, police Sgt. Floyd Newingham saw White and ordered him to
stop. Court documents said White dropped a bag containing 16 individually
wrapped bags of crack cocaine.

On his appeal, White also challenged Matthew's initial stop and asked that
the drug evidence be suppressed.

The court said Matthews needed "something more" than just an anonymous tip
to conduct a valid stop.

"There was, however, no corroboration of the tipster's allegations of
criminal conduct to justify Officer Matthew's stop. While White's appearance
was consistent with the anonymous caller's overly general description and
White did exit the housing complex on the described bicycle, Officer
Matthews observed no unusual conduct which would suggest criminal activity
was afoot," Nigro wrote in the majority opinion.

Justice Stephen Zappala joined Castille and Newman in dissenting.

Castille said White's case should not be compared to the Miami case.

He called the tipster's prediction of White's future behavior - getting on a
girl's bicycle - "an entirely different matter."

"Since only a small number of people are generally privy to an individual's
itinerary, it is reasonable for police to believe that a person with access
to such information is also likely to have access to reliable information
about the individual's illegal activities," Castille wrote.