STOUDAMIRE ENTERS INNOCENT PLEA

OREGON CITY - Portland Trail Blazers guard Damon Stoudamire pleaded
innocent Tuesday to a felony charge of marijuana possession, and his lawyer
intends to challenge the police's warrantless search of the player's home.

"We intend to fight this all the way," attorney Stephen A. Houze said
outside the Clackamas County Courthouse.

Circuit Judge John Lowe ordered Stoudamire, 28, to turn himself in at the
county jail within 24 hours. Bail was set at $50,000.

A marijuana charge had been filed against Stoudamire's father, Willie, but
Deputy District Attorney Steven Griffin said Tuesday that the charge had
been dropped for lack of evidence.

Stoudamire and his father left the courthouse without comment before
climbing into a waiting SUV. A woman handed the player a bouquet of roses
and shook his hand before he got in.

The Stoudamires appeared in the same courthouse as former Trail Blazer
Isaiah Rider, who was convicted of marijuana possession in 1997. Unlike the
Stoudamire case, Rider was charged with having less than an ounce of the
drug, a misdemeanor, and was fined $500.

On Monday, a grand jury returned an indictment against Stoudamire on a
charge of possessing at least 150 grams, or about 5 ounces. That's a Class
B felony, and the maximum penalty if convicted is 10 years in prison and a
$200,000 fine.

The judge set a trial date of Oct. 1, right around the time NBA teams open
training camp.

According to the indictment, the marijuana was found Feb. 23 at
Stoudamire's home in Lake Oswego, an affluent suburb south of Portland.
According to The Oregonian newspaper and several broadcast reports, two of
Stoudamire's neighbors called police because his burglar alarm was
sounding. A Lake Oswego Police officer arrived and found the front door
open. He called for backup, and the two officers entered the home without a
warrant.

No one was inside, but they found and confiscated about a pound of
marijuana, The Oregonian reported. The Trail Blazers played a home game
against Denver that night, and police didn't tell Stoudamire about the
incident until two weeks later.

An appellate court last week threw out a case against an Oregon man
arrested for having marijuana in his home in 1997. A neighbor called 911 to
report that the man's front door was open and his two pit bulls were
running loose. Police came and confiscated drug paraphernalia and a
marijuana-growing operation.

Houze, Stoudamire's attorney, said he will use that case as precedent to
ask the judge to throw out the charges against his client. A two-day
hearing on the matter begins Aug. 5.

"We think the law's clear," Houze said.

Lake Oswego Police have kept a low profile since the case against
Stoudamire became public on April 15. But Capt. Marc Galloway defended the
officers who entered the home, saying they had to make sure no one was in
danger.

Galloway said investigating officers also have a duty to seize evidence of
a crime, no matter how the Stoudamire case is resolved.

"It's not going to change the way we do business," Galloway said. "We're
not just going to leave drugs sitting around."

Stoudamire was a high school star in Portland, and his supporters said
several friends and family members have access to his home. Prosecutors
would not go into detail about why they dropped the charges against the
player's father.