Despite pot find, case dropped

A judge threw out most of the evidence after faulting the search warrant. The two suspects had faced more than 30 years in prison.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 9, 2001

LARGO -- Pinellas sheriff's deputies searched an Oldsmar house last year and found a sophisticated marijuana growing operation with 170 plants.

But on Tuesday, Pinellas prosecutors dropped all charges against the men accused of running it. Steven H. Byle, 41, and Robert R. Stuller, 40, had both faced more than 30 years in prison on marijuana trafficking and other charges.

The decision comes two weeks after a Pinellas-Pasco judge threw out most evidence in the case, saying sheriff's detectives made numerous "omissions and false representations" to a judge to get a search warrant.

"I think the court's ruling pretty much eliminated any possibility of us carrying forth the prosecution," said Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett.

Circuit Judge Dee Anna Farnell said in a July 26 ruling that evidence "establishes that law enforcement misrepresented information and skewed the evidence by omitting pertinent information" in the request to her for a search warrant.

Deputies who raided the house on St. Petersburg Drive E found 36 pounds of pot.

Among other problems cited by Farnell, the judge said detectives failed to tell her about a possible motive behind the tipster who told the Sheriff's Office about the growing operation. The tipster's wife was having an affair with Stuller, the ruling said.

Detectives also incorrectly told the judge that the amount of electricity consumed at the house was exceedingly high, indicative of a marijuana growing operation, Farnell's ruling said.

Both defendants, who were free on bail awaiting trial, had been charged with marijuana trafficking, manufacturing marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

"I'm not surprised they dropped it," said Byle. "What other choice did they have? Judge Farnell put them on notice that she didn't believe a word they said. To pursue it any further would only add insult to injury."

The house where deputies found the marijuana was previously owned by Byle's now-deceased mother. At the time of the raid, the house was owned by a trust. Byle and his sister are both beneficiaries of that trust, said Byle's attorney, John Trevena.

The home has since been sold to someone without any connection to the case, he said.

Byle, who was charged in 1994 with marijuana cultivation in a Hillsborough case that was also dropped after another judge threw out evidence, denied any knowledge of the Oldsmar marijuana operation.

"There's no doubt in my mind that deputies knew there was marijuana in that house," Byle said. "At the end of the day, that doesn't mean I'm responsible for it."

This is the second time in two years that a judge has ruled that sheriff's detectives misrepresented themselves to obtain a search warrant in a drug case.

In October 1999, a different judge criticized detectives -- including one of the same detectives in the current case -- for an affidavit seeking a search warrant that showed "a reckless disregard for the truth."

That case, unrelated to Byle and Stuller, was also dropped by prosecutors.

Sheriff's internal affairs investigators are looking into Byle and Stuller's case and a sheriff's spokesman said at the time of the ruling that the Sheriff's Office would not comment while that inquiry is pending.

"We're always concerned when a judge issues an order like this," said Bartlett, noting that he thought that deputies perhaps moved too quickly in obtaining a warrant. He said he could not comment further.

"But it's not like somebody trucked drugs in there," Bartlett said. "They were there."

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