El Dorado police violated law in meth search, court says

The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday reversed a man’s conviction for possession of methamphetamine, ruling that El Dorado police had illegally searched him during a traffic stop.

The court ruled that the evidence gathered in the search, a small quantity of meth hidden in a cigarette pack, should not have been used in the trial of Gerald E. Cleverly Jr.

The search that turned up the drugs was “a flagrant violation of long-standing constitutional law,” said the court opinion delivered by Justice Lee A. Johnson

Cleverly was a passenger in a pickup that was stopped by El Dorado police on Jan. 30, 2012, based on the officer’s observation that neither of the passengers was wearing a seat belt, the opinion said.

The driver, identified as Chris Jones, gave officers permission to search the truck, and the search turned up a pipe that had apparently been used for smoking drugs.

Cleverly was told to get out of the vehicle and stand in front of the police car, then was subjected to a pat-down search.

“Despite later testifying that he had no articulable facts suggesting that Cleverly had committed any crime, Officer (Sam) Humig interrogated Cleverly, specifically seeking incriminating evidence as to whether Cleverly possessed marijuana, cocaine, or methamphetamine,” the opinion said.

Humig ultimately searched Cleverly three times, with the drugs turning up in a detailed search of belongings from his pockets, the opinion said.

At trial, Cleverly was convicted on the drug charge and sentenced to 18 months’ probation, with an underlying sentence of 15 months in jail. State correctional records do not show him serving any prison time.

El Dorado police contended that Cleverly consented to the third search, although his initial detention and the first pat-down search were involuntary. The trial court and the Court of Appeals agreed with the city.

But the justices ruled the encounter should have ended as soon as officers issued Jones a traffic ticket.

They also said there was no way for Cleverly to know when the encounter supposedly changed from involuntary detention on the traffic stop to a voluntary interaction where he had the right to leave.

“When Officer Humig searched the cigarette package, he was unlawfully detaining Cleverly and had been doing so continuously since the unlawful pat-down search,” the opinion said.

This story was originally published December 23, 2016 at 6:41 PM with the headline "El Dorado police violated law in meth search, court says."