RULING ON TRAFFIC STOP, SEARCH, MAY DETERMINE WHETHER METH DEFENDANT MUST
SERVE SENTENCE

At what point does a traffic stop cease being a traffic stop? When an
officer returns a driver's license to a violator and that person signs his
ticket, does that constitute the end of legally detaining the driver? If an
officer has a hunch about contraband in the vehicle based on an odor
emitting from the car, can he return and ask permission to search? Those
are the questions defendant James Brady wants answered, and the questions
Cumberland County Criminal Court Judge Leon Burns and General Sessions
Court Judge Steve Douglas are pondering at the same time.

The answer may very well determine whether Brady goes to prison or not.

Crossville attorney Tom Beesley carried the same argument he presented in
Douglas' court to Criminal Court Tuesday when Brady sat for a probation
revocation hearing.

Brady, who was on probation because of manufacturing methamphetamine and
attempting to manufacture methamphetamine convictions, is fighting new
charges stemming from a traffic stop May 28 by Trooper Randall Huckeby that
led to new meth charges.

The new charges are winding their way through General Sessions Court with
Douglas taking Beesley's efforts to suppress evidence seized in the latest
stop under advisement.

The hearing last Tuesday was a revocation hearing before Judge Burns who
also delayed issuing a formal ruling.

Probation Officer Mark Ledbetter's case against Brady might not hinge on
the ruling, however. In addition to the new charges, Ledbetter filed
probation violation warrants against Brady for changing addresses without
notifying the probation office, and for refusing to take a drug screen on
the night he was arrested.

Beesley argued that Brady had taken and passed three drug screens since
August 2000.

Huckeby stated he stopped a vehicle in which Brady was a passenger for
having an expired tag. The trooper said both Brady and the driver of the
vehicle appeared to be nervous. When he approached the car, he smelled a
strong odor of chemicals he associated, based on past experience, with the
manufacturing of methamphetamine.

But he didn't say anything at that time. Instead he opted to observe the
driver and passenger.

Huckeby said he issued the citation, and started to walk away when he
suddenly stopped, returned to the vehicle and asked for consent to search.
The driver was hesitant, asking for an attorney to be present. Brady,
Huckeby said, asked how the search was going to affect him.

Cumberland County Sheriff's Deputy Al Seitner was called to the scene with
his drug detection dog which "hit" on the vehicle, indicating the presence
of drugs. (Beesley is also attacking the qualifications of the dog used in
the search.)

A resulting search of the vehicle netted residues of a green leafy
substance Huckeby identified as marijuana and items consistent with the
making of methamphetamine.

"Once the officer gave him the paperwork back, he was released from the
stop and free to go," argued Beesley.

Assistant District Attorney General Gary McKenzie countered that Huckeby
had reasonable suspicion to expand the scope of the traffic stop, based on
the driver's and passenger's actions and the odors coming from the vehicle.

"It appears a valid stop ... the detection of odors associated with
methamphetamine, the nervousness of the occupants," Burns commented.
Assistant DA Kimberly Kelly added that there is also the question of
whether Brady, as a passenger, has a right to challenge the search of a
vehicle he was not driving.

If the probation revocation is upheld, Brady will have to serve a five year
in prison.