SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "Judge unlikely to allow key evidence in pending cocaine case"

Evidence — including nearly 1.5 ounces of cocaine and a handgun — in the case against an Eastern European man will likely be suppressed today, according to a judge’s order released Wednesday.

Judge Gail Nichols of Pitkin County District Court wrote that Aspen police Detective Walter Chi unlawfully remained in the apartment of the suspect, Andrian Arapu, 25, of Moldova, after he was detained by immigration agents April 6. Nichols also cited the fact that other police officers and agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) entered the defendant’s apartment without permission.....

......Chief Deputy District Attorney Arnold Mordkin declined comment when asked if the warrant would hold up without Chi’s observations.

If both he and Van Ness “agree that, without the tainted information, the search warrant affidavit does not establish the requisite probable cause, the court will suppress the evidence of the gun and cocaine seen by Detective Chi ... and will also suppress the evidence seized as a result of the search warrant,” Nichols wrote...."
(Chad Abraham)

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