HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The two local residents charged in a drug distribution case were in court Friday afternoon in an attempt to get some of the evidence against them suppressed.
John Zapata-Beltran and Amy Fisher are charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia all with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school. Other charges include possession of prescription drugs, no drug tax stamp and a new count of aggravated endangerment of a child.
They’re seeking to have some of the evidence suppressed, mainly questioning the affidavit presented to a judge to authorize the search.
But, they apparently filed this week what’s called a Frank’s Affidavit. This is basically challenging the information contained in the affidavit that officers presented a judge to get permission to serve a search warrant.
Deputy District Attorney Tom Stanton argued that he just received these filing Friday morning and wasn’t prepared to argue the states side before the court. He told the court that he was prepared to argue the motion to suppress.
A clearly annoyed Judge Tim Chambers made a note for the record that the two defendants were arrested and charged in this case back in May of 2015. He says it’s been 5-months since the two were arraigned in his court. Beltran has sat in jail since last year and the judge says these delays have hurt him the most.
He also noted that he had set a motion deadline of Nov. 20, 2015, yet there are still motions being filed. He told both sides that any other motions to be filed will be done so by next Friday. Anything after that will be to late. He noted that we’ll let the appellate court decide of he has the right to set motion deadlines in criminal cases.
A hearing to decide all this is now set for April 8, as it stands now.
The case itself begins with a search being served on a home in the Careyville neighborhood of southeast Hutchinson as well as a Jaguar where drugs and a Taurus 9 mm handgun were allegedly found. The home is within a thousand feet of a Reno County Head Start.
In the master bedroom, they allege that they found green residue wrapped in tin foil and an empty digital scale box. On top of a dryer, officers found two burnt marijuana cigarettes and, inside a bathroom, officers found a small baggie of suspected methamphetamine.
In the trunk of a 2003 Jaguar sitting on a trailer, they allegedly found two backpacks and inside one them was a small lock box with some prescription drugs, new packaging materials, $10,000 in cash and a Taurus 9 mm handgun with a loaded magazine and two holsters. In the front pocket of the backpack were two digital scales. In the other backpack, they allegedly found more drugs, including 14.5 grams of methamphetamine and several bags of suspected marijuana weighing about 340 grams.
Zapata-Beltran has another case pending where he’s charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and criminal possession of a firearm by a felon.
He’s accused of having the weapon back on May 12, 2015, that being a shotgun where he allegedly threatened a woman with that weapon. These crimes occurring around the same time as the drug distribution case he’s facing trial over and according to his attorney is connected to the other case.