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Show ! County Loses Round In Vandalism Battle I; V -s i l-.y ; if. si-is. : R. :;;;. f; s H ? ff i if Pi. ; i: ' f ; ! V i vvfe if' Si i i:ifr::i4 ' V : . : : !. W fV 'i? i -Si " i i .- -? .; : A i;f? '- f:i: ', " , r i ' - - . ' , ' - " ,y , -, ' - - . . . ' ' ' ' ' . . - : - V f t . ? 1 't s fry ''( U. S. Highway 89 south of the Scenic Highway 12 junction claimed another vehicle Saturday at 11 a.m. when Jen Allen, East Wenatchee, Wash., said he dozed for a second. The northbound car slid to the opposite side of the road, sending it over the embankment. Allen's wife was taken to the hospital. Trooper Craig Twitchell, investigated. Garfield County appears to have lost yet another round in its slowly eroding case against Grant Johnson, Deer Creek resident once accused of vandalizing heavy equipment on the Burr Trail in late 1987. In the April 6 hearing in Sixth District Court in Panguitch to hear motions to suppress, Judge Don Tibbs ruled to suppress all evidence seized at the Deer Creek Ranch near Boulder under a search warrant issued is-sued shortly after the vandalism took place. Johnson's attorney Ron Yengich, Salt Lake City, questioned ques-tioned Garfield County Sheriff Robert Judd about the affidavit signed and sworn to by Judd that served as a basis for the search warrant issued by Garfield County Justice of the Peace John Yardley. Judd acknowledged that plaster casts of footprints at the scene of the vandalism and immediately outside the Deer Creek Ranch gate had not yet been made, contrary to the statement he had sworn to in the affidavit. Yengich argues that since the affidavit had been false, the search warrant should never have been issued is-sued and therefore all evidence obtained ob-tained via that wairant should be suppressed. Judge Tibbs agreed and so ruled. Suppression of that evidence seriously affects four of the remaining seven counts against Johnson. In late December 1988, Judge David Mower had ruled in Sixth Circuit Court that insufficient insuffi-cient evidence existed to bind Johnson over to face felony charges of criminal mischief in the vandalizing vandal-izing of bulldozers on the Burr Trail, and he dropped all charges. He bound Johnson over, however, on three felony and four misdemeanor misde-meanor charges, all drug related. Evidence seized at Deer Creek Ranch related primarily to four of those counts and either the defense, or the county itself, could move for dismissal on those charges as a result. re-sult. Those include two third degree felony counts of possession (peyote and LSD) and two class B misdemeanor misde-meanor counts of possession j (marijuana and drug paraphernalia). ' A dismissal would leave Johnson facing a single third degree felony count of possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) with an intent in-tent to distribute, and two counts of possession (marijuana and drug ! paraphernalia), both class B misdemeanors, mis-demeanors, i i Judge Tibbs will take under consideration Yengich's motions to suppress evidence gathered in the arrest of Johnson and the search of his person and in the impounding and inventory of his van. Yengich sought to establish that, without the evidence gathered in the Deer Creek search, insufficient reason existed to issue an arrest warrant for Johnson (which led to discovery of controlled substance on his person) or impound and search for inventory inven-tory his vehicle (which led to discovery dis-covery of controlled substances and paraphernalia). The legal argument focused on "How far does suppression go?" Does it suppress only the evidence or include knowledge the arresting officer may have also. Judge Tibbs said that he would take the remaining issues under advisement ad-visement and inform the attorneys of his decision at a later date. |