Judge: Search warrants not properly carried out

Both of the cases involved drugs.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

LISBON — Two cases involving three people will be dismissed because of problems in the execution of separate search warrants.

Columbiana County Prosecutor Robert Herron said Tuesday entries were being prepared to end the unrelated cases. Both involved alleged drug activity.

Herron said that there was no problem with the preparation of the search warrants.

Challenges to local search warrants are rare, and successful challenges are even rarer.

“I can’t remember any, but it’s been many years,” Herron said.

Both of the recent rulings were made by county Common Pleas Court Judge C. Ashley Pike.

Judge Pike’s most recent ruling involved a married couple, Daryl and Candy Kibler, of Mardis Road in Kensington.

Candy Kibler gave permission to sheriff’s detective Andy Sweeney to search property at 10800 Mardis Road in September 2006. She was the only person home at the time.

The address for the search warrant was for a vacant farmhouse. But the couple lived in a mobile home with a different address that was on the same property.

The judge ruled that she told authorities that she had consented to the search of the house, but not the mobile home.

“Her information [to authorities] to that effect was to no avail,” Judge Pike wrote.

The county’s drug task force searched the mobile home and charged each of the Kiblers with possession of drugs.

Judge Pike ruled that the consent to search was only given to Detective Sweeney, and not to the drug task force.

But the judge also ruled that the detective told her that he was searching to find copper and possibly other scrap materials.

Earlier this month, Judge Pike ruled that a search warrant in a drug case was invalid because of threats made by East Palestine police.

The judge also ruled that all the physical evidence from that search can’t be used against defendant Jason E. Petrich, of Park Avenue, who wasn’t home at the time. Authorities said they found marijuana in the house.

The judge said that one officer stated to Petrich’s girlfriend that either access would be given to the defendant’s home or the officer would force his way in and “take care” of the defendant’s dog.

The officer or officers involved were not named in the judge’s ruling.

Judge Pike ruled that the girlfriend had no authority to give consent to search the property, and any consent she may have given was coerced by police.

wilkinson@vindy.com