(Stillwater) — Charges have been dropped against a Ripley couple who were accused of possessing methamphetamine at their residence in Rowdy Acres mobile home park with the intent to distribute the illegal drug.
The District Attorney’s Office dismissed the case against Nathan Alan Wright, 28, and Theresa Michelle Wright, 24, on Jan. 29 when a preliminary hearing was scheduled to be held for the couple.
The previous day, Nathan Wright’s attorney, Debra Vincent, had filed a motion to suppress all evidence and statements obtained as a result of the seizure of Nathan Wright and search of his residence, as illegal in violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
According to the defense attorney’s motion, “On the 19th day of October, 2008, deputies of the Payne County Sheriff’s Office made contact with Defendant at his home based upon a request that they conduct a welfare check on Defendant’s young son.
“Upon contact with Defendant at his home, Deputy Paul Fox almost immediately placed Defendant in investigative detention and handcuffed Defendant for the stated purposed of ‘officer safety.’
“Subsequent to this detention, Deputy Fox made contact with the child who was sleeping in the home and determined there were no immediate concerns for the child’s safety or welfare.
“Without releasing Defendant from custody and without advising Defendant of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, Deputy Fox initiated an interrogation of Defendant based upon the officer’s suspicions of illegal drug activity in the household.
“With Defendant still in custody, Deputy Fox removed Defendant from the home and detained him in a sheriff’s office vehicle while Defendant believes the deputy attempted to obtain a search warrant for the home.
“Subsequently, during this lengthy detention of Defendant, Deputy Fox obtained what is purported to be voluntary consent to search the residence from Defendant.
“During the allegedly consensual search, Deputy Fox asked Defendant to produce a locked box believed by the deputy to contain contraband. Defendant produced the box and advised Deputy Fox that he did not have a key to unlock the box.
“Deputy Fox seized the box and removed it to the Payne County Sheriff’s Office where he broke it open and seized its contents.
“Defendant argues his continued detention after the purpose of the law enforcement contact, the welfare check, was concluded amounted to an illegal seizure of his person as there was at that point, no probable cause to arrest him for a crime.
“Defendant argues his alleged consent to search his home was invalid considering the totality of the circumstances,” in particular the failure of officers to provide a Miranda warning during this encounter, the defense attorney argued in her motion.
“Defendant further argues that even if the Court were to conclude the search of Defendant’s residence was the product of a valid consent, the removal and forced entry into the locked box constituted a separate warrantless search that was not justified.
“Defendant was not asked to consent to forced entry into the box and once it was removed from the residence, the deputies had no excuse for failing to obtain a warrant before breaking it open,” Vincent argued in her motion.
She asked that all evidence obtained “as a result of the illegal search and seizure,” be suppressed.
The DA’s Office then dropped its case against the couple.
The lockbox contained a glass water pipe with burnt residue that tested positive for methampetamine and also contained a safe that had in it about 300 ziplock baggies, an insulin syringe bag, four used syringes, two spoons with methamphetamine residue, used and unused razor blades, a snorting straw with methamphetamine residue and a set of digital scales with methamphetamine residue, Deputy Fox alleged in an affidavit.
Nathan Wright allegedly told the deputy that his wife, who was not home, had the key to the lockbox, according to the affidavit.
If the couple had been convicted of felony methamphetamine possession, the Wrights could each have been given two years to life in prison and a $20,000 fine, according to the charges that were filed by Payne County First Assistant District Attorney Tom Lee on Oct. 27 and dismissed three months later.
