AUTHORITIES WRANGLE OVER DESTROYING METH LAB EVIDENCE

MIAMI, OK -- With meth labs booming in Oklahoma, so is the issue of
handling evidence from them. It is becoming especially divisive in Ottawa
County, where a judge was asked recently to suppress evidence of a lab
because investigators took photos of it, then destroyed it.

Children Exposed To Chemicals

The issue isn't going away soon, not with 22 methamphetamine lab cases set
for the October felony trial docket.

The drug is a growing problem, hitting all areas of rural and urban
Oklahoma. Meth lab seizures have increased steadily, with last year's 1,193
seizures making Oklahoma No. 3 in the nation.

In Comanche County, certified deputies process meth labs, photos are taken
of the evidence and samples are sent to the Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation for analysis, said Ray Pyeatt, narcotics investigator. He
said defense attorneys have tried to argue that evidence was destroyed.

"With methamphetamine the No. 1 problem in our area, we don't have enough
storage room or the proper containers to hold the evidence," Pyeatt said.
"You really don't want to bring all that hazardous material into the
courtroom."

The issue recently took center stage in Ottawa County when attorneys for a
suspected meth maker filed a motion to suppress photographic evidence in a
case before Associate District Judge Bill Culver.

Scott Graham, a sheriff's deputy and member of the Ottawa County drug unit,
testified in a preliminary hearing that he took photographs of the
methamphetamine materials, then destroyed the lab.

The motion to suppress evidence prompted Sheriff Dennis King to fire off a
letter to associate district judges Robert Haney and Culver saying he would
not store materials seized from methamphetamine labs in his department.

Ottawa County detective Mike Eason said the evidence room couldn't safely
hold meth materials.

"If one of the containers had a leak and exploded, a four-block radius
around the courthouse would go up in smoke and flames," Eason said.

Culver declined to comment on the case, except to say he overruled the
motion to suppress and would accept photographs of methamphetamine material
as evidence.

Haney said the law can be interpreted various ways.

"One part of the statute says the best evidence must be maintained, and
another part of the law says hazardous materials must be destroyed," Haney
said. "It wouldn't be a problem if the materials were stored in a sealed
container."

The sheriff said methamphetamine labs are toxic and flammable and cannot be
put in sealed containers.

Last year, the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department confiscated 50
methamphetamine labs.

The sheriff said he called the state Environmental Quality Department, the
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the Environmental Protection
Agency, and the Occupational Safety and Health Agency about storing the
hazardous materials.

"I was told by all the agencies I could not store the materials at the
sheriff's department, and if I did, I would be slapped with a fine," King said.

He said he was told the materials could be stored in an off-site building.
But insurance costs and city and county regulations make that impossible.

"I have spoken to the county commissioners, and there is no feasible way to
store the materials," King said. "We cannot ask taxpayers to assume a
$500,000 to $1 million bill to build a storage unit to hold methamphetamine
labs."

King is expected to address the issue at the county commissioners' meeting
today.

Eason said that after a drug bust, authorities photograph the lab, take
samples from the different chemicals, photograph the samples with a special
evidence identification number and send the samples to the OSBI lab for
analysis.

During a preliminary hearing or trial, the photograph and the lab results
are entered as evidence, Eason said. He added that not every sample is sent
to the OSBI lab.

"Sometimes a result from a field test is used in a preliminary hearing,"
Eason said. "If a defendant pleads guilty, the sample is destroyed."

Samples waiting to be sent to the lab are stored in the evidence room,
Eason said.

In Mayes County, 42 labs were confiscated in 2001, and 53 labs have been
confiscated this year.

"Methamphetamine combined with burglary is our biggest problem," Mayes
County Sheriff Frank Cantey said.

Cantey said deputies collect the unfinished materials as evidence, store
them in five-gallon plastic containers and send to the OSBI lab for testing.

"As far as I know, we don't destroy anything until after a case is disposed
of," Cantey said.

Cantey added that the finished product is put into a sample kit and sent to
the OSBI, but the remainder is stored in containers in the evidence vault.

"The finished product is not hazardous and will not explode as long as it
isn't near an open flame," Cantey said. "The materials start to explode
when you mix the products."

Trent Baggett, associate executive coordinator for the Oklahoma District
Attorney's Council, said that beginning Nov. 1, House Bill 2303 will allow
law enforcement agencies to destroy materials.

Materials exceeding 10 pounds seized in a single incident are to be
photographed with identifying case numbers and accompanied by a descriptive
report. Agencies are required to keep one pound of the substance seized for
every 10 pounds, and the sample taken must be large enough for the
defendant to have an independent test, Baggett said.

"While there are rules of evidence to be concerned with, you may have a
difference in interpreting the law," Baggett said. "No one is wrong -- just
different."

Kym Koch, OSBI spokeswoman, said when the agency is called in to handle a
methamphetamine bust, they take representative samples, photograph the
materials and later destroy them.