BOOKSTORE WON'T OPEN RECORDS TO DRUG PROBE

April 12 - The owner of the Tattered Cover Book Store believes that a
customer's shopping list is private and protected by the First
Amendment, but area police officers say the list could help them
prosecute a suspected drug dealer.

The two sides have reached a standoff, with Joyce Meskis of the
Tattered Cover refusing to let the Metro Gang Task Force search her
records for a particular customer.

Task-force officers have agreed to let a Denver District judge rule on
the law this morning, when attorney Dan Recht asks for a temporary
restraining order preventing police from going through the records.

"When an individual purchases a book, they do so expecting to have the
writer and the reader come together in the privacy of his or her
home," said Meskis. "They don't expect it to become a public matter."

Recht agreed.

"The Tattered Cover feels very strongly that its customers have a
privacy interest in the First Amendment to not have anybody find out
what they are reading," he said. "It's very important and has been
litigated by libraries, booksellers and individuals that government
agencies can not come in without a court order and obtain information
on what people are reading."

Gang task-force officials were unavailable for comment.

A second issue focuses on police conduct regarding allegations that
they shopped around for a search warrant, a practice that attorney
Recht termed "forum shopping" and "abuse of process."

According to court documents, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
agent Tim McFarland obtained an administrative subpoena requesting all
information Tattered Cover had on the suspected individual, who has
not been identified. Recht told the officers the subpoena was
deficient, that they needed one from U.S. District Court.

Task-force members then sought a subpoena in Adams County and another
from Denver Assistant District Attorney Brian Allen, which was
granted, Recht complains.

"Allen did everything right. He was hoodwinked," Recht
said.

That afternoon, five police officers came to the LoDo Tattered Cover,
produced the search warrant and demanded the records. Recht called
Allen, who told him the officers had never mentioned their previous
requests. Allen then called the five police officers and asked them to
leave the Tattered Cover, according to Recht. The officers agreed that
they would not execute the search warrant until today.