NEW COURT CLERK FIXES EVIDENCE VAULT'S `HORRIBLE DISARRAY'

Every time the criminal-trial evidence vault in Pima County Superior
Court was opened, new court Clerk Patti Noland got a whiff of eau de
marijuana.

It wasn't cologne and it wasn't fresh, but it was powerful, Noland
said.

``As soon as someone opened the vault there was that odor - stale
marijuana,'' she said. Others working near the vault also were weary
of the odor, she said.

Noland, who took office in early January after Jim Corbett's 20-year
tenure, entered the odorous vault to learn more. She did not like what
she found.

``It was in horrible disarray, and things were where they shouldn't be
in the vault,'' she said.

There were enough guns to outfit a small army, bloodstained clothing -
and bushels of marijuana, Noland said.

``I guess sometimes prosecutors want to make a splash in court - there
were whole suitcases full of marijuana in there,'' she said.

The bloody clothes and guns were cause for Noland's concern about
potential health and safety dangers that could get the county on the
wrong side of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, she
said.

There also were space problems in the vault, and, ``It needed a good
inventory done from the time when I came in,'' she said.

To minimize biohazard exposures, workers who inventoried and later
moved the goods wore protective masks, Noland said.

The inventory found that some of the items in evidence were 6 and 7
years old - the cases to which they are attached are bogged down in
appeals processes, she said.

Noland made two major changes: Older items were moved to a more secure
underground vault across the street, and marijuana volumes were
sharply reduced.

``If it goes with a case not currently active in our courts, it went
across the street,'' she said. ``And we're just keeping core samples
of marijuana, what is absolutely necessary. That's much more prudent.''

She said excess marijuana went back to the law enforcement agencies
from which it came for destruction.

With volumes trimmed, older items moved and everything reorganized to
suit Noland, ``Now I can find items much more quickly for court
trials,'' she said.