The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that US District Judge Gustave Diamond has denied a defendant’s motion to suppress evidence and dismiss charges in a case where the evidence was destroyed before trial. In this case, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office permitted drug evidence and a coin purse allegedly seized from the defendant to be incinerated. Before granting the request to incinerate the evidence, the District Attorney’s Office was not aware that the United States Attorney General’s Office was prosecuting the case. The defense argued that it was substantially impaired by the destruction of evidence and requested that the court dismiss the charges and suppress the destroyed evidence. After considering the motions, Judge Diamond concluded that the evidence was not destroyed in bad faith and that the prosecution was not put on notice that the defendant found the coin purse to be exculpatory evidence.
For more information, go to:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11109/1140430-100.stm?cmpid=latest.xml