METH CASE HANDED TO FEDS

Evidence Nixed Locally May Stand In Federal Court

MONMOUTH - Two Monmouth men allegedly caught with methamphetamine in
their car are free from jail on the local charges but face similar
charges in federal court.

Warren County State's Attorney Chip Algren said Friday Judge Greg
McClintock has suppressed evidence of the meth found during a search
June 21 by Monmouth's drug dog of a car occupied by Jeremiah Griffin,
25, 715 S. Sixth St., and Jason Mettler, 24, 6 McEwen Court. After
the evidence was suppressed, attorneys for Mettler and Griffin filed
motions to have their bond reduced pending a pretrail conference Nov. 30.

Griffin's bond was reduced from $500,000 to a $500,000 recognizance
bond. Mettler's bond was reduced from $200,000 to a $200,000
recognizance bond. Both men were released from the Warren County Jail
this week.

Algren said McClintock had no choice, based on Illinois Supreme Court
rulings, but to suppress the evidence of the meth found in the car
during the search. An Illinois Supreme Court decision found police
cannot ask any questions unrelated to the traffic stop unless the
officer is reasonably suspicious that some criminal activity is going
on other than the reason for the traffic stop.

In Mettler and Griffin's case, a Monmouth Police officer stopped
their car for a traffic violation. The officer then called for the
canine officer and drug dog, which conducted a walk around the car
and hit on the meth.

"Judge McClintock found the officer who made the traffic stop did not
have enough reasonable suspicion to start asking questions unrelated
to the traffic stop and to detain the car until the drug dog got
there," Algren said.

Algren's only alternative was to contact U.S. Attorney Jeff Lange, a
federal prosecutor based in Rock Island, to see if the feds would
pursue the case now that the local evidence was suppressed.

Before deciding whether to proceed with federal charges, Lange said
he wanted to review the police report, transcripts of the suppression
hearing and other documents. Algren sent those documents to the
Federal Prosecutor by overnight mail and Lange has agreed to
prosecute Mettler and Griffin on federal charges.

Algren offered Mettler and Griffin a choice to either plead to the
local charge and go to prison or face federal charges involving the
meth found during the traffic stop. Algren offered Mettler a 10-year
prison sentence and Griffin a 16-year sentence. Griffin's sentence
offer was longer because he has an extensive criminal record.
Unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to
manufacture meth is a Class X felony and carries a 6- to 30-year
prison sentence. The two men had until the close of the day Thursday
to decide and each rejected the state's offer.

Algren said the U.S. Supreme Court and the Illinois Supreme Court
have different interpretations on Terry vs. Ohio, a landmark U.S.
Supreme Court decision that goes back several years. That case, he
said, has to do with the right of a police officer to question
someone or pat them down if they suspect criminal activity.

"What our officers did on June 21 under the U.S. Supreme Court
interpretation of Terry was fine, but the Illinois Supreme Court has
taken a more liberal interpretation of an Illinois case. That case
says when an officer makes a traffic stop, he can only talk to the
driver and other passengers about the traffic stop, period, unless he
has reasonable suspicion that there is some other criminal activity
taking place. That's not how the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted
this, but that is how Illinois has," Algren said.

Algren said he did not know when the federal prosecutor would file
charges against Mettler and Griffin or when arrest warrants will be
issued, but he hopes to hear something by Monday.

"This is not just a Warren County problem, it's a statewide problem,"
Algren said.