CASE THROWN OUT, DRUG-SNIFFING DOG UNQUALIFIED

STATE DID Not Present Evidence Of Razor's Training In Sniffing.

TAMPA -- Hillsborough Sheriff's deputies deployed their drugdetecting dog,
Razor, to sniff around the car when they stopped motorist Gary Alan Matheson
for a traffic infraction on Hillsborough Avenue.

The German shepherd signaled the presence of drugs, which deputies used as
probable cause for the May 1999 search, which revealed morphine and
methamphetamine.

Failing to get the evidence suppressed in court, Matheson pleaded guilty to
drug-possession charges. He received probation in 2000.

This week, however, the 2nd District Court of Appeal threw out the case
against Matheson, saying the state had not presented any evidence of the
dog's "track record" of sniffing out drugs.

The Sheriff's Office acknowledged that it did not keep records of Razor's
success rate in the field, and that the dog had no training to distinguish
between actual drugs and "dead scents" from drugs no longer present.

In its unanimous ruling, the appeals court also noted that Razor had
received only five weeks of drug-sniffing training, whereas the Customs
Service puts its dogs through a 12-week course and teaches them to disregard
residual scents.

The Customs Service requires its dogs to have a perfect record; only half
the dogs complete the program. But the certification program Razor attended
requires only 70 percent success.

The court's ruling, which also affects law enforcement in Pinellas County,
does not forbid drug searches by dogs or declare them uniformly unreliable.
But without better training, the court ruled, Razor should not have
automatically been considered reliable enough to give deputies probable
cause for the car search.

"However much we dog lovers may tend to anthropomorphize their behavior, the
fact is that dogs are not motivated to acquire skills that will assist them
in their chosen profession of detecting contraband," wrote Judge Stevan
Northcutt.

Local law agencies say it's too early to speculate on the ruling's impact.

Susan Shanahan, the assistant attorney general who is handling the appeal
for the state, said the state likely will ask the 2nd DCA for a rehearing.
"The opinion's not final, and policies won't necessarily change until that
opinion is final," she said.

The case would potentially have far-reaching implications, and could
influence cases nationwide, Shanahan said.

Some are already celebrating the ruling.

"It'll change the way they do their training and record-keeping," said Rex
Curry, the Tampa defense lawyer who argued Matheson's motion to suppress the
drug evidence.

Curry said defense lawyers from across the country already are asking him
for copies of his suppression motion for use in their own cases involving
drugsniffing dogs.

"The whole defense community's really barking about this," he said.
Hillsborough Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Rod Reder said the office will
examine the ruling.

"We hope this really can be overturned," Reder said. "We find the dogs to be
a very powerful and fair tool in the war on drugs."