ST. LOUIS – A Missouri man sentenced to 26 years in prison on a drug charge that was later vacated is suing a county sheriff and wants approximately $2 million.
Timmie Alan Pierce spent nearly two years behind bars until an appeals court reversed the verdict and sentence because the arresting officers carried out a search without a warrant.
He is now suing St. Francois County, Sheriff Daniel Bullock, and two deputies who arrested him at his Bonne Terre home in 2011. The case was filed April 25 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and cites violations of the Fourth and 14th Amendments.
Pierce was convicted and sentenced in 2015 for having materials that could be used in the production of meth, but these were later vacated after the appeals court ruled the two deputies, Sgt. Michael Ryan and Officer Timothy Harris carried out the search of the coop without a warrant.
The plaintiff is asking for a total around $2.5 million, including $1 million for emotional distress for the 23 months he spent incarcerated, and $500,000 for false imprisonment for 23 months.
He also wants fair market value of $20,000 for 20 legally held guns seized after his arrest and not returned, and a further $25,000 for a beating he allegedly received.
The complaint details how Ryan and Harris allegedly conducted a warrantless search of a chicken coop on the plaintiff's property in June 2011. The materials seized including ones commonly used to cook methamphetamine, according to a report in the Riverfront Times newspaper.
The chicken coop "was located on 3.9 acres of wooded property and completely enclosed with a barbed-wire fence with 'Private Property' and 'No Trespassing' signs on each of the two driveways," the complaint states. "On previous occasions Timmie had denied the requests by police officers to search his property. Sergeant Ryan and Officer Harris were aware that previous requests to search had been denied."
These materials were used "to convict plaintiff of several drug offenses," and sentenced to 26 years, the complaint states. The court refused Pierce's request to suppress the use of the materials because of the warrantless search.
"The appellate court determined that the chicken coop was within the curtilage of plaintiff’s home and that exigent circumstances did not justify the warrantless search," according to the complaint.
Plaintiff’s conviction and sentence were vacated and the motion to suppress the materials was reversed. The state of Missouri and St. Francois decided not to retry the case, the complaint states.
Pierce is asking for a trial by jury. He is represented by David M. Duree of David M. Duree & Associates in O'Fallon, Illinois.