Last July, William Sandlin, Joseph Callas and Brooke Villa-Staton were all arrested, accused of stealing $700 from a Rogue River medical marijuana grower at gun point.
It was 3:55 in the morning, a short time after the robbery when a deputy with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office saw a car on a road between Rogue River and White City with two men and a woman in it and followed them, eventually pulling the car over.
The deputy says he found a gun matching the description given by the victim and claims to have found the cash that was reported missing inside, evidence that could have been used against them.
But last week Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Mejia ruled the suspects were pulled over with no probable cause.
“The plain meaning of probable cause is merely that a police officer has good faith belief that is more likely than not that a crime has been committed.”
Not speaking about the case, Garren Pedemonte with the Jackson County Public Defenders office says that there always needs to be a clear reason to be stopped by police.
“If they want to stop you they have to have reasonable suspicion that you’ve committed a crime. If they want to arrest you or search you they have to have probable cause or theres evidence of the crime where they want to look.”
That’s exactly what the suspects did, thier attorney filed a motion and while the evidence has been dropped the pre-trial is still scheduled for September 30.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.