The System

[G M <herecomestheflood@yahoo.com>]

A Caldwell man has been released after four years following improper
arrest

    (Boise) - A Caldwell man has been freed after spending four
years in prison for what the Idaho Court of Appeals has ruled was
an illegal arrest.
    Luis Hernandez of Caldwell in 1994 was sentenced to up to ten
years. He was required to serve at least five years before he was
eligible for parole. That conviction was overturned yesterday.
    In 1993, Caldwell police officer Joel Damron saw Hernandez leave
a bar and followed him. Hernandez walked into a house. Damron
spotted bags of a white powder inside he thought were drugs. They
turned out to be sugar and flour.
    Damron wouldn't allow Hernandez to urinate, so he finally did in
his pants. Instead of letting Hernandez go free, Damron then
arrested him for public urination. The county filed a persistent
violator charge against him for prior burglary and drug
convictions.
    In Appellate Judge Alan Schwartzman's words, Hernandez "got
chewed up in the system which failed him at every turn."
    
12/16/98


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