After motion to suppress denied, MC man pleads guilty

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Photo: Patrick Quinn

A Yellville man entered a guilty plea to drug-related charges in Baxter County Circuit Court Wednesday and was placed on probation for five years and told to arrange to enter an inpatient addiction treatment program.

It appeared the case of 52-year-old Patrick Quinn might be headed for a jury trial this week, but those plans changed after Circuit Judge Gordon Webb issued a ruling denying a motion to suppress evidence following a two-hour hearing Monday.

During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Webb said he had thought “long and hard” about the correct sentence to impose on Quinn, which would punish him, but also give him an opportunity to deal with his addiction to methamphetamine. He said arriving at sentences “was the most difficult thing I do.”

Before the judge announced his decision, Quinn’s defense attorney, John Crain, argued his client had been in possession of a small amount of methamphetamine and unused smoking pipes used to ingest the drug found during the late May traffic stop. Crain said his client represented no threat to society, and a suspended sentence would allow Quinn to seek the treatment he needed.

Crain told the court his client might lose his job because of his felony conviction, but was hopeful he could remain with the company.

Fourteenth Judicial District Prosecutor David Ethredge said the state strongly believed a man traveling through Mountain Home with methamphetamine and paraphernalia to use the drug did represent a threat to society. He said the fact Quinn worked for a company providing security alarms and other equipment for homes and businesses “certainly represents a potential — and very scary — threat.”

The hearing on Monday dealt with a motion filed by Crain. In the motion, Crain contended evidence against his client was not legally obtained by Mountain Home Police officers as part of the traffic stop. Crain’s client was initially pulled over at a local service station for operating his vehicle with a crack in the windshield obstructing his view and for changing lanes without giving a proper signal.

According to the probable cause affidavit, the officer said Quinn handed him his driver’s license and other paperwork through a window rolled down only about an inch. The officer said Quinn appeared “very nervous.”

Crain argued to the court “mere nervousness when being stopped by police does not provide reasonable suspicion for arrest.” Ethredge said officers had detected a number of reasons to question and test Quinn for both alcohol or drug use. One officer said when he first talked to Quinn, the man’s pupils were constricted and unresponsive to light. Indicators from some of the tests were “consistent with the use of stimulants,” according to court records.

The Mountain Home Police drug dog was brought to the scene by his handler. The canine immediately alerted on Quinn’s pickup truck indicating drugs had been in the vehicle, or were still there. Several MHPD officers had arrived at that time, and a search of the truck was undertaken. An officer found a small black plastic bag on the ground between gas pumps and the rear tire area of the truck on the driver’s side.

The bag contained a white crystalline substance wrapped in cellophane from a cigarette pack. The substance field tested positive for methamphetamine. Police also reported finding six new glass smoking pipes commonly used to ingest methamphetamine.

While on the scene at the service station, Quinn is alleged to have admitted the items belonged to him.

Crain told the court the package containing the meth was “just laying on the ground, no one had seen it fall from the vehicle, and there is absolutely no evidence” connecting Quinn to the illegal items.

The video from the body camera worn by the officer making the original traffic stop was played for the court. Crain said it would clearly show there was no methamphetamine found on Quinn or in his vehicle.

Ethredge told the court during Monday’s suppression hearing, the defense “is trying to say Mr. Quinn somehow stopped next to the only gas pump in Mountain Home, Arkansas with a bag of meth laying beside it.”

In making his ruling, Judge Webb noted he could not accept the object Crain pointed out on the body cam footage was a bag containing methamphetamine. The judge said the officer who found it described it as being in the area of the rear tire of the truck, while Crain was pointing to a small black object near the front of the vehicle.

Crain argued the officers had overstepped their bounds when Quinn’s truck was searched even though there was no longer probable cause to undertake such an endeavor. It is an often asked question in courts: when does the reason for a traffic stop — stop? Ethredge argued the entire stop was a seamless operation, beginning with Quinn being pulled over for traffic violations, appearing as if he might be under the influence of chemical stimulants, checking the truck with the drug dog and, after the canine alerted, having officers look for detected drugs detected.

The defense attorney had also contended his client was held for an unreasonable length of time for what was a routine traffic stop. Judge Webb disagreed, saying he “cannot conclude there was unreasonable delay in this case.”

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