State plans to revive drug case

SANDPOINT — Charges have been dismissed against a Sandpoint man accused of cocaine trafficking.

A judge dismissed the case against Scott Tyler Brown on Feb. 15 because the state was unable to proceed for a preliminary hearing. Judge Barbara Buchanan dismissed the case without prejudice, which means the state is free to re-file it.

Deputy Prosecutor Jim Stow said he expects to have the charges reinstated. He said the state was not prepared for the hearing because it was believed that Brown would waive it. Preliminary hearings determine whether a trial is justified.

Brown, 22, is accused of delivering an ounce of the drug to a confidential informant on April 27, 2005. An informant who was trying to "work off" methadone and methamphetamine possession charges proposed the controlled buy to local drug task force agents, court documents said.

Drug agents concealed a recording device on the informant and supplied him with $800 to make the illicit purchase, court records indicate.