COURT EXCLUDES DRUG-COURIER PROFILE TESTIMONY

PHOENIX -- Testimony about police profiles of typical drug couriers cannot
be used to convict people of drug offenses, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled
Thursday.

The court, in a 3-2 ruling, overturned Robert Lee's 1996 marijuana
trafficking conviction. A police officer had testified at Lee's trial that
Lee fit the profile of a typical drug smuggler.

Allowing testimony about such police profiles would amount to "guilt by
association," Chief Justice Thomas Zlaket wrote for the court majority.

Quoting an earlier state appeals court decision, Zlaket wrote that using
profile evidence "creates too high a risk that a defendant will be
convicted not for what he did but for what others are doing."

Lee and a companion were arrested in 1994 after they arrived at Phoenix Sky
Harbor International Airport and bought tickets minutes before a late-night
flight to Chicago was scheduled to leave. A drug-sniffing dog singled out a
suitcase Lee brought with him, and police found more than 4 pounds of
marijuana inside.

A police officer testified that Lee shared several characteristics with
other drug couriers, such as taking the last flight to Chicago, checking in
late and carrying a hard-sided suitcase. Prosecutors used the testimony to
show Lee was knowingly carrying drugs -- although no fingerprints were
found inside the suitcase.