DRUG CASE REJECTED; POLICE MADE CHARGE FROM CRACK IN CAR

SCHENECTADY - A man charged with drug possession last year after police
found 103 pieces of crack cocaine in the back seat of a squad car they used
to transport him has been acquitted of all charges.

A Schenectady County Court jury acquitted 33-year-old James Evans of third-
and fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance Wednesday,
his attorney Michael T. Horan said.

"The people on the jury told me that they didn't think there was sufficient
evidence" for a conviction, Horan said.

Schenectady police arrested Evans in November, just over a month after
police claimed he left crack in the back of the squad car. Officers Mari
Mosher and Robert Dashnow brought Evans to the police station on Sept. 30
after an investigation of gunshots near Close Street and Victory Avenue.
Horan said the police pulled Evans' car over near the intersection and
brought him to the police station after he was unable to produce a driver's
license.

Evans was eventually ticketed for traffic infractions and released.
Afterward, Mosher and Dashnow found 103 "bumpies" of crack cocaine in the
back seat of their police cruiser and went looking for Evans, Horan said.
Mosher, he said, carried the cocaine in her pocket while she and her
partner looked for Evans.

Evans was arrested on Nov. 8 and charged with the drug offenses. "They
didn't find him for about a month, though he was living in town and they
have his address," Horan said.

Evans denied that the drugs were his.