Meth case reinstated

SANDPOINT — The Idaho Court of Appeals is reinstating criminal charges against a Spirit Lake man whose legal counsel had successfully argued for their dismissal twice before.

The appellate court found that a 1st District Court erred when he dismissed the felony methamphetamine charges against Tim Samual Moser last year, according to an Oct. 7 unpublished opinion.

The ruling remands the case against Moser back to district court for further proceedings.

Moser, 44, was charged with delivery of meth and trafficking following a sting operation by Bonner County sheriff’s deputies and a confidential informant in March 2009.

The confidential informant, a probationer looking to curry favor with authorities in an attempt to mitigate his own legal troubles, was not called to testify at a preliminary hearing and a magistrate court judge found there was insufficient evidence to sustain the charges, 1st District Court records show.

Judge Barbara Buchanan dismissed the case without prejudice, which enabled the state to re-file the charges the following day. Moser was ordered to stand trial after the informant testified at another preliminary hearing before another magistrate.

Moser’s defense counsel subsequently moved to dismiss the case because the state had either re-filed the charges in bad faith or without good cause, which violated his right to due process.

The defense argued the state revived the charges for the purpose of harassment, delay or forum-shopping. It further argued that state did not re-file in good faith because no newly discovered evidence was produced at the second prelim.

District Judge John Mitchell granted the motion to dismiss, which prompted the state to appeal.

But the appeals court reviewed the record and found nothing to substantiate the defense’s claims of harassment, delay or forum shopping. The court also disagreed with the defense’s contention that the state had to present newly discovered evidence in order the act in good faith.

“To hold otherwise would require the state to make its entire trial presentation at the preliminary hearing or run the risk of a magistrate finding that something less than the entire presentation fell short of probable cause. In such a case, the state would be left without recourse unless it had the good fortune of discovering some bit of evidence, however insignificant, that was previously unknown,” Judge John Melanson wrote in the opinion.

Chief Judge Karen Lansing and Judge David Gratton concurred.