STATE TO APPEAL DISMISSAL OF MARION METH CASES

CHATTANOOGA - A prosecutor says the state will appeal a judge's
decision to dismiss methamphetamine charges against 30 people after
ruling that prosecutors misinterpreted a 1-year-old Tennessee law.

David McGovern, an assistant district attorney general for the 12th
Judicial District, said the Aug. 3 ruling by Circuit Court Judge
Thomas W. Graham would be challenged. McGovern said the Tennessee
attorney general's office was preparing the notice of appeal.

The 2005 law restricts purchases of cold and allergy tablets that
contain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in making the addictive
stimulant, as well as other common products such as coffee filters or
matches if they are knowingly purchased to make methamphetamine.

State law limits purchases to no more than 9 grams of pseudoephedrine
in any 30-day period and the judge said in his Thursday ruling that
prosecutors could not use multiple purchases of pseudoephedrine to
build their cases.

The 30 defendants were charged after making multiple buys during a
30-day period that totaled more than 9 grams, records show.

Thomas said it was "clear that since none of the purchases in these
cases exceeded 9 grams, the state simply cannot legally make a
promotion case as to any of these defendants." His decision said the
law must be applied to a single purchase to withstand a
constitutional challenge for vagueness.

McGovern said prosecutors disagree and believe the law applies to the
"aggregate amount. We think it reads a little broader." He said the
appeal would be filed in the next few days.

McGovern said if the appeals court reverses the judge, the cases
would continue.

Marion County investigators arrested more than 80 people in April on
charges of promoting methamphetamine manufacture after collecting
pharmacy records of pseudoephedrine transactions over a two-month
period. The purchase records were compared to lists of people
previously arrested for manufacturing methamphetamine.

Phil Condra, a public defender, told Graham in a June hearing that
the vagueness of the law puts innocent consumers in jeopardy because
it allows law officers too much discretion in making arrests. He said
it would allow arrests for buying other products used to make meth.

Preston Shipp, an assistant Tennessee attorney general, said in a
previous court filing that there was "no possibility of conviction of
an innocent person who purchases, as the defendant suggests, two
packages of coffee filters, with neither knowledge that it will be
used to produce methamphetamine nor reckless disregard of its intended use."