A 29-year-old Conway man facing a potential life-in-prison sentence on charges of drug trafficking and the simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms has requested that his trial set for next week be moved to another date.
Little Rock attorney Patrick Benca appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday on behalf of James Adrian Peer.
Benca, who entered the case in mid-June last year, filed a motion to suppress evidence in mid-December last year and wants the issues raised in that motion decided prior to trial.
In the suppression motion, Benca alleges Peer’s arrest was unlawful, done without probable cause and was only a “pretext” to begin an investigation. The defense lawyer contends “because the search in this case was unlawful, all evidence and statements obtained as a consequence must be suppressed.”
According to the probable cause affidavit, the 2006 white Jeep that Peer was driving was pulled over on State Highway 126 North by a Baxter County sheriffs deputy.
The deputy reported the vehicle had a “spiderweb” like crack in the windshield and had also gone left of center at one point. The deputy reported detecting the odor of marijuana when he approached the Jeep and observed that there were “numerous air fresheners hanging inside the vehicle.”
Peer told the deputy he had a pistol in the right-hand pocket of his jacket and was initially hesitant to give the pistol up. The weapon was eventually taken and secured.
When a second deputy responded to the scene, a search of the vehicle was started.
The search was reported to have resulted in the finding of three weapons and ammunition for the weapons. In addition, 65 grams of Fentynal, 120 grams of marijuana, 440 oxycodone pills, and 52 Alprazolam pills .
The deputies also reported finding digital scales, a glass smoking pipe, a grinder to process marijuana and almost $3,800 in cash.
Two of Peer’s charges are Class Y Felonies, the most serious classification of crime in Arkansas not punishable by death. The potential sentencing range is from 10-years-to-life.
The jury trial is now set for August 21. Peer is free on $250,000 bond.
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