Search of driver's car was illegal, D.A. says

The District Attorney's office will not bring charges against Donald Gaines, University President Judith Rodin's driver, in connection with last week's seizure of marijuana from his car because police searched the car without probable cause or a warrant, D.A. spokesperson Bill Davall said yesterday. On Wednesday, Public Safety Managing Director Thomas Seamon had said that charges would not be pressed because the D.A. could not prove the confiscated drugs belonged to anyone. He also announced that neither University or Philadelphia police would continue investigating the incident. Davall explained that because University Police obtained the evidence through an illegal search, the marijuana they found and seized from the car is inadmissable in court. "We're not looking for trouble [in court]," he said. "We're not going to go in when the judge is just going to throw it out." But Seamon said last night that he stood by his earlier statement. And he added that the police search of the vehicle was legal. "It was not an illegal search," he said. "That's what they say for judicial economy. They don't take a small amount of drugs to court because of judicial economy." But an attorney in the D.A.'s charging unit declined to press charges against Gaines' last Monday because of "lack [of] prosecutorial merit, insufficient evidence, inadmissable evidence and insufficient probable cause," Davall said. Davall added that University Police violated Gaines' private property rights by entering the car. Police would not have been able to obtain a warrant to search the car if they had asked a judge for one, he said. The charging unit of the D.A.'s office decides whether to pursue a case based on evidence seized by police and their account of how they obtained the evidence, Davall explained. The evidence was insufficient because it was a "diminimous [small] amount of pot," he said. Seamon said Wednesday that the D.A. declined charges because "we could not associate the drugs with anyone." University Police Officer John Washington searched Gaines' car last Monday after observing two Glock 9-mm ammunition magazines protruding from a bag in the back seat, according to an incident report filed with University Police and obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian. The car was unlocked and parked in a University lot at 38th and Spruce streets, according to the report. After entering the car, Washington checked the pockets of a jacket inside and found a cigarette box containing two cigarettes rolled by hand, TOP rolling papers and a plastic bag containing a "green leafy substance," according to the report. Washington seized the drugs and paraphernalia, which were turned over to Philadelphia Police the same day for testing, according to a property receipt, listing items seized from the vehicle. Philadelphia Police tested the drugs and determined that they were marijuana, Seamon said earlier this week. Washington also found and seized a loaded .22-caliber revolver, several types of bullets and the three magazines, according to the property receipt. Gaines has a license to carry the the revolver as well as a 9-mm weapon, Davall said yesterday. The incident never appeared in the official crime log maintained by University Police, even though Washington filed an incident report and property receipt with University Police. In a 'Letter to the Editor' in Wednesday's DP, Seamon explained that the incident was not entered into the log because it did not involve criminal charges. And on Wednesday, he said the incident would be entered into the log if someone is charged in the future in connection to the drugs found in the car. But Davall said no one can ever be charged in connection with the incident because all of the evidence was obtained illegally. Gaines remains the subject of an internal investigation, according to Steve Schutt, vice president and chief of staff for Rodin. The president's office is conducting the investigation in conjunction with the Division of Human Resources and the Public Safety Department.