The Huntsville Item, Huntsville, TX

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July 26, 2010

Traffic stop leads to drug arrest

By Matthew Jackson Staff Reporter

HUNTSVILLE — A Huntsville man was arrested Saturday night and charged with three drug-related offense as well as tampering with evidence after a routine traffic stop by a Huntsville police officer.

Trent De’Ray Archie, 28, was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance, one count of possession of a dangerous drug and one count of tampering with physical evidence after being stopped for speeding.

Shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday Officer Tim Watson of the HPD witnessed a vehicle traveling 44 miles per hour in a 30 mile per hour zone in the 800 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Watson pursued the vehicle, and during the pursuit witnessed the driver throw several small objects out of the vehicle.

According to Lt. Jim Barnes of the HPD, Watson stopped the vehicle in the 1000 block of MLK Boulevard and called for additional patrol support to search for the objects thrown from the vehicle.

“From his training and experience Officer Watson realized that the objects thrown out of the car were probably narcotics, and requested another unit to assist him,” Barnes said.

Officers then searched the area where the objects had been thrown out. Barnes said the officers located a clear bottle filled with brown liquid believed to be PCP, and a pill bottle containing white rocks believed to be crack cocaine.

Archie was taken into custody for the narcotics, and an additional charge of tampering with evidence was added due to throwing the narcotics out of the car during the traffic stop.

A search of Archie’s vehicle also yielded prescription medication that Archie did not have a prescription for, leading to the dangerous drug charge. The vehicle also contained nearly $1,300 cash, which was confiscated by the officers.

“It was just good heads-up police work by Watson,” Barnes said of the arrest. “He had the good observation skills to recognize the traffic violation and to notice the narcotics being thrown from the car.”

Archie was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2006 after being convicted of the murder of Anthony Williams in 2004. His conviction was overturned by Texas 10th Court of Appeals in Waco in Dec., 2009 after Archie’s attorneys challenged the denial of motion for a mistrial, the admission of a jailhouse informant’s testimony and the legal and factual sufficiency of evidence.

Walker County Criminal District Attorney David Weeks said Monday that his office is still awaiting a ruling from the Texas 10th Court of Appeals on a request for a rehearing in the case.

Weeks also said that, due to Archie’s new arrest, he anticipates that his office will file a motion to revoke Archie’s appeal bond in the coming days.

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