SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "Judge: Officer had cause to question suspect in cocaine distribution case"

Chad Abraham:
"A judge has ruled that an Aspen police officer had reasonable suspicion to stop and question a Snowmass Village man in 2010 about a fight, inquiries that led to his arrest for the brawl and, later, to him being charged with distribution of cocaine.

Justin Gordon, 33, is scheduled to be tried in May on felony counts of cocaine distribution and violating his bond by missing a court date for the drug charge.

Aspen police officer Rick Magnuson, told about an altercation outside Eric’s Bar on Oct. 1, 2010, testified in a Jan. 23 motions hearing that he spotted Gordon two blocks from the bar.

Magnuson said Gordon matched the description he had been given of the suspect in the fight, and the officer began questioning the defendant.

Gordon’s attorney, public defender Tina Fang, had argued that Magnuson did not have reasonable suspicion to stop her client.

“The court disagrees,” wrote Judge Gail Nichols of Pitkin County District Court. “Officer Magnuson knew that he was looking for a short, bald man in a green jacket. There were no other people with green jackets in the area — indeed, there were no other people walking in the area at all.”

Gordon allegedly headed into an alley after spotting Magnuson’s police car, “which could be an expression of consciousness of guilt,” the Feb. 10 ruling says. “All of these facts together provided reasonable suspicion to stop the defendant, question him about whether he was involved in a fight at Eric’s and obtain his identification.”

Gordon was originally arrested for his role in the fight outside the bar. He then was re-arrested the same month after a cabbie told police that cocaine that an officer found strewn in a street near the bar fell out of Gordon’s pocket during the fight.....”
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SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "Motion denied to suppress evidence in cocaine case"

Chad Abraham:

"A judge on Monday denied a motion to suppress evidence, including 14 grams of cocaine that police allegedly found strewn in the middle of a downtown street in 2010, in the case of a Snowmass Village man charged with distributing the drug.

But Judge Gail Nichols of Pitkin County District Court, after a nearly two-hour hearing, said she needed time to review a transcript of a recording taken by a police car video camera before ruling on whether the arrest of Justin Gordon, 33, by Aspen police officer Rick Magnuson was lawful.

Gordon was originally arrested for his alleged role in a bar brawl in October 2010, and was later charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute and a bail-bond violation, both of which are felonies...."