DRUG COURIER CLAIMS RACIAL PROFILING WAS USED

Feb. 29 - AIR FORCE ACADEMY - A drug courier who carried $600,000 worth of
cocaine to Colorado asked the Colorado Supreme Court for a new trial Monday
because a trial court judge mistakenly allowed a police officer to testify
that the man fit a profile of people who transport drugs.

Jose Salcedo, who worked odd jobs in San Jose, Calif., before he was
arrested in Denver with 3 kilograms of cocaine in his suitcase, is serving
24 years for intent to distribute cocaine, unlawful possession of more than
28 grams of cocaine and importing cocaine to Colorado.

His attorney, Thomas Van Cleave III, told the Supreme Court at a special
session at Air Academy High School that testimony from Denver Police
Detective Dennis Petersohn helped convict Salcedo and that a new trial
without profile testimony should be granted.

"It was clearly used to prove substantive evidence of guilt," Van Cleave
said before 450 students from Air Academy and other high schools in Academy
School District 20 as part of the high court's "Courts in the Community"
program.

Van Cleave also said it was unfair that Denver District Judge Morris B.
Hoffman, the trial court judge, denied testimony from an expert on Mexican
culture who could have explained some of Salcedo's behavior.

The Court of Appeals agreed that Hoffman was wrong to allow Petersohn's
testimony on the courier profile, but it did not grant a new trial, saying
the mistake was "harmless." Elizabeth Rohrbaugh, a deputy attorney general,
said that even if the trial judge did make a mistake, the outcome would
have been the same. Salcedo still would have been convicted because there
was so much evidence against him.

Salcedo took a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Denver
International Airport on May 1, 1995. When he walked off the plane,
Petersohn and Vincent Sanchez of the Drug Enforcement Agency noted that
Salcedo's behavior fit a "drug courier profile."

Petersohn testified in Hoffman's court that Salcedo had no carry-on
baggage, was not wearing a business suit, was not wearing a watch, had no
book or camera, acted nervously and wore a religious cross around his neck.
While waiting for his baggage, Salcedo paced back and forth. When his
suitcase arrived, Salcedo walked toward an exit and was stopped by police.

Salcedo's hands were trembling, and he blurted out: "That's not my bag. I
am just carrying it for someone. I don't know what's in there. You can take
fingerprints. Mine aren't in there." The name tag said the luggage belonged
to Salcedo, who gave police permission to search the bag.

Petersohn, who qualified as an expert in court on drug interdiction,
testified that his opinion was based on 27 years of experience in law
enforcement. He did not base his opinion on any specific profile of a drug
courier, Rohrbaugh said.

Justice Gregory Kellam Scott questioned both attorneys on whether there was
any record of the profile in the court documents.

"From the cases we've seen, if you got off the plane first, you met the
drug courier profile; if you got off the plane last, you met the drug
courier profile; and if you got off the plane in the middle, you met the
drug courier profile," Scott said. "So I guess you should be the pilot and
get off with the crew." Police and prosecutors have been widely criticized
across the United States because profiles used to target criminals are
often so broad they would fit anyone or because they are based on race.

"He was relying on his own experience. There's no reference to a monolithic
drug courier profile," Rohrbaugh said.

The high court will issue a ruling this spring.