On August 2, 2018, the Story County district court granted the State’s motion to dismiss class B felony possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, class D drug tax stamp charges and a second or subsequent offense enhancement (up to 80 years in prison total) following a favorable pretrial ruling suppressing 1,800 grams of pure ice methamphetamine. The contraband was discovered during a raid by the Central Iowa Drug Task Force at a residence in Ames, Iowa. After thoroughly deposing all the members of the task force involved, we successfully argued to the district court that the information presented to the magistrate to establish probable cause for the search warrant was too stale to be reliable. As a result, the court had no choice under state and federal search and seizure law but to suppress all the evidence against our client. The seizure of 1,800 grams (approximately 3 pounds with an estimated street value of $150,000) was the largest in the history of the CIDTF and ISU PD in Story County. This result clearly demonstrates why those facing any drug charge, whether as a result of a search warrant or traffic stop, should have an experienced drug defense team review the circumstances and challenge the admissibility of evidence by the State. Your liberty depends on it.
