PotShot

Woman challenges drug bust
JOE KAFKA | AberdeenNews.com | Sat, Apr. 15, 2006

PIERRE, S.D. - The lawyer for a woman caught on an interstate highway near Sioux Falls with 53 pounds of pot is telling the state Supreme Court a drug dog did not indicate the presence of marijuana in the trunk of her car.

Therefore, says Michael Butler in written arguments filed ahead of an April 25 hearing, the search that turned up two large duffel bags containing $432,520 in marijuana was illegal and the evidence should have been suppressed.

A state trooper stopped Tam Thi Thu Nguyen, 23, of Renton, Wash., on March 18, 2005, near the exchange of Interstates 90 and 29 for following too closely.

Trooper Christopher Koltz had his drug dog sniff around the woman's car during the videotaped stop.

Nguyen was convicted for drug possession and possession with the intent to distribute marijuana. Circuit Judge Peter Lieberman sentenced her to 25 years in prison, with 13 years suspended.

Butler says the trunk of Nguyen's car was searched when the trooper's dog, Kaz, merely put his paw on the rear bumper after prodding from Koltz on the second time around the vehicle. The tepid signal was hardly enough of a reason to open the trunk, the woman's lawyer says, adding that the dog was trained to aggressively scratch when it smells drugs.

"The tape shows that Kaz had every opportunity to scratch at the target area but did not. He did not even show an inclination to scratch."

Butler says Koltz has acknowledged taking advantage of traffic violations to stop cars with Washington license plates because he often snares drug runners from that state. Although the trooper denied that he targets vehicles from Washington, a record of his traffic stops in a 16-month period shows that he stopped more from that state than any other other except South Dakota, Butler says.

Nguyen's lawyer adds that Kaz indicated the presence of drugs during 183 of those searches, but was right only 46 percent of the time.

Assistant Attorney General Craig Eichstadt will tell the high court that Kaz is a well-trained and reliable drug dog. Drug dogs are trained to detect the odor of drugs, not drugs, the state lawyer writes.

Often, when dogs smell drugs but none can be found, police have later learned from informants that drugs were present but police did not find them, Eichstadt says.

Kaz is a Belgian Malinois, originally from Germany. The dog has been with the Highway Patrol since 1996. It is trained to track criminals, find lost people, protect officers and detect the odor of illegal drugs.

The Highway Patrol says the dog has been instrumental in the seizure of millions of dollars in drugs and assets of those caught with illegal drugs.

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