Arrest Ruled Illegal 4 Years Into Sentence

A Canyon County man has been freed after spending four years in prison for what the Idaho Court of Appeals ruled was an illegal arrest.

Luis Hernandez of Caldwell was sentenced in 1994 to up to 10 years on a drug charge. He was required to serve at least five years before he was eligible for parole. That conviction was overturned Tuesday.

Appellate Judge Alan Schwartzman wrote the opinion with Chief Judge Karen Lansing and Judge Darrel Perry concurring.

The case started on July 30, 1993. Caldwell police officer Joel Damron watched Hernandez leave a bar and saw what he considered suspicious activity, according to court documents.

Damron followed Hernandez five blocks. Hernandez walked into a nearby house and refused Damron’s demand to stop. Damron saw “four bags of white powdery substance packaged in plastic on the kitchen table,” which he thought was drugs.

Damron ordered Hernandez to stay on the house steps as he waited for a search warrant. Twice Damron refused Hernandez’s requests to relieve himself. Eventually, Hernandez urinated in an alleyway. A search of the kitchen ascertained the four packages actually contained sugar and flour.

Instead of letting Hernandez go free, Damron then arrested him for public urination, court documents said.