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'Pattern of harassment' charged in Cullars Jr. Federal pre-trial motion The attorney defending Nathaniel Cullars Jr. against Federal cocaine dealing charges has moved for the evidence seized in the case be thrown out, charging that the traffic stop was "harassment" by a Washington police officer. Defense attorney M.V. Booker filed pre-trial motions in U.S. District Court in Augusta last week to prohibit the government's use of evidence - including a large amount of crack cocaine - obtained in the search of Cullars' car because, she charges, the vehicle was searched without probable cause. During the stop, officers found crack cocaine in the hand of Cullars Jr., and in the glove compartment of the vehicle. The police stop, the motion claimed, was not based on any reasonable suspicion that Cullars, Jr. was engaged in criminal activity, but was "a continuation of a pattern of harassment" by Officer Jamie Bridges of the defendant. The motion included an affidavit by the defendant's father, Washington City Councilman Nathaniel Cullars Sr. saying that as "Chairman of the Police Committee of the City" he has "had numerous complaints concerning Officer Jamie Bridges related to other inappropriate conduct and have recommended that he be terminated and disciplined for these actions prior to the arrest of the Defendant who is my son." The senior Cullars swore in the that his son had told him that Bridges would follow Cullars Jr. when he drove in the city, and had stopped him three times in recent months for questioning. Cullars Sr. said that he complained to Police Chief Mike Davis, but no action was taken. In the motion to suppress the evidence, Booker says that after Cullars' car was stopped for a loud music violation, "the search of the vehicle far exceeded the scope of the stop and was a violation of the Defendant's rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States." Because the seizure of crack cocaine from the person and vehicle of Cullars, Jr. was illegal, the motion claims, any evidence that police seized in the search should be suppressed, and government witnesses should not be allowed to mention the evidence in the trial. If convicted in Federal court of possession of cocaine base with intent to distribute, Cullars Jr. faces a prison term of not less than five years and not more than 40 years, plus fines up to $200,000, according to the penalty certification submitted by Federal prosecutor Stephen K. Marsh, assistant U.S. attorney. Booker also filed a motion for discovery, seeking access to some 20 categories of evidence, statements, reports, tests, and other documents that might help the defense.
No trial date has been set.
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