Stoudamire Wins Ruling
Portland Trail Blazer guard Damon Stoudamire won a ruling Wednesday that could force the dismissal of a felony drug charge.
Clackamas County Circuit Judge John Lowe ruled that marijuana found at Stoudamire’s suburban Lake Oswego house after police were called to investigate a burglar alarm could not be used as evidence. A prosecutor said he would appeal the ruling.
Police found a large bag of marijuana behind an attic door while searching the house for intruders after two neighbors reported Stoudamire’s front door was ajar and the alarm was beeping inside an hour after Stoudamire left for a game Feb. 23.
Lowe said he could find “no precedent in this state for upholding such a search of a private residence.”
On Tuesday, Lowe rejected the two strongest arguments prosecutors made for the search, ruling there was no legal justification without a warrant and that Stoudamire had not given consent.
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