SEARCH RULING STANDS, JUDGE SAYS

A judge on Wednesday turned down a request by District Attorney Nola
Foulston for a hearing to reconsider a decision to dismiss evidence in a
drug case.

Shortly after Foulston's request -- made in a statement to reporters in her
office -- District Judge Rebecca Pilshaw turned it down.

The defense lawyer in the case, Kurt Kerns, called Foulston's public
request a "blatant attempt to intimidate the judge."

"The way she (Foulston) brought it forward was an obvious attempt to
persuade the judge to change her mind," Kerns said. The "respectful and
appropriate" way to do it, Kerns said, is to file an appeal.

But Foulston said her office has an obligation to raise a "critical element
overlooked" in Pilshaw's ruling Friday on the search of Terry Marck's
Wichita home. Marck is charged with making methamphetamine there.

Police officers testified they saw evidence of a meth lab by opening
Marck's door and peering in.

Kerns argued the search was illegal because the officers opened the door
without a search warrant. In her ruling Friday, Pilshaw agreed. She also
cited other problems with the search and arrest of Marck.

In seeking to have the decision reconsidered in a hearing, Foulston said
Pilshaw overlooked testimony by a police detective who said evidence could
be seen by standing outside the door and looking through a door opening.

Although Pilshaw faulted the search of Marck's home, she said evidence did
not support Kerns' contention that three or four police officers engaged in
a pattern of constitutional violations in the Marck case and about a dozen
others.

Kerns said Pilshaw's decision on the search of Marck's home means the
prosecution can no longer proceed. "They have no evidence... against him,"
he said.

Marck, 44, remained in the Sedgwick County Jail on Wednesday. Kerns said he
expects Marck will be transferred to the jail in Dodge City to face a drug
possession charge there.