Fascinating legal issue

July 17, 2007

Lance Griffin

he issue is this: Coffee County law enforcement contacted the Dale County Sheriff’s Department to ask if there were oustanding warrants on Bennie Dean Herring. A warrant clerk in Dale County said there was, and a Coffee County investigator made a traffic stop on Herring within 15 minutes of the information being received. However, during that time, the Dale County warrant clerk could not find the oustanding warrant for Herring, and soon found out the warrant had been recalled. The clerk immediately tried to call her counterpart in Coffee County to relay the information the warrant had been recalled.

By that time, Herring had been pulled over and searched. The search turned up methamphetamine and pistol under his truck’s front seat. Herring was subsequently indicted and convicted on meth possession and a felon in possession of a firearm charges and sentenced to 27 months. He moved to suppress any evidence of the methamphetamine and firearm on grounds that the searches that turned them up were not incident to a
lawful arrest, because the arrest warrant on which the officers acted had been rescinded.

Should the evidence have been suppressed?

Click below for the full text opinion of the Appeals Court:

Dothan PD Daily Crime Analysis

July 16, 2007

Lance Griffin

The following information was provided by the Dothan Police Department’s Daily Crime Analysis. The following crimes/incidents were reported for July 13:
Commercial Burglaries — 2 (3000 block Ross Clark Circle, 3700 block Montgomery Highway)
Theft/Larceny — 12
Assault — 1
Forgery — 1
Vandalism — 1
Offenses Against Family/Children — 1
Suspicious Circumstances — 6
Harasssment/Harassing Communications — 3

The following crimes/incidents were reported for July 14:
Burglaries — 2 (1 Commercial 4000 block Montgomery Highway; 1 residential, 1300 Block of Sioux St.)
Theft/Larceny — 4
Motor Vehicle Theft — 1
Assault — 1
Drug Abuse Violation — 2
Offenses Against Family/Children — 4
Liquor Laws — 1
Drunkenness — 1
Disorderly Conduct — 1
Suspicious Circumstances — 2
Harasssment/Harassing Communications — 2
Trespass — 2

Weekend arrests

Lance Griffin

Keaton Lamar Battle, 34, Ridge St., Donalsonville, Ga., Enticing a Child for Immoral Purposes

The following arrests for driving under the influence have been reported by the Dothan Police Department. None has been convicted.

Sunday: David Michael Brooks, 30, of Glen St., Enterprise
Sunday: Shedrick Williams, 33, of Kynes St., Marianna, Fla.
Sunday: Leah Clements Bailey, 27, of Tree Crest Road