The district attorney's office appealed that case March 5 to the Oregon Court of Appeals. Police arrested Parker on Jan. 9 in the South Park Blocks for allegedly selling marijuana. Word is getting around the legal community, and it is becoming common for defense attorneys to seek dismissals based on double jeopardy. But in at least two other cases Multnomah County Judge Joseph Ceniceros ruled that drug-free zone exclusions do not constitute double jeopardy. At some point, the Oregon Supreme Court may need to resolve the different rulings.
Police also are concerned about the rulings.
Commander Ed May of the Portland Police Bureau's Central Precinct said the court rulings jeopardize police efforts to clear drugs out of downtown. If I were a businessman at Sixth and Alder, and drug dealers are keeping my customers away, this is the last thing I would want to hear. Since September, police have arrested and excluded more than 1,200 suspected drug dealers and buyers in Operation North Star, an undercover operation along the transit mall. There are three zones on the east side. The first stretches from the Willamette River east to Southeast 12th Avenue, and from between Northeast Lloyd Boulevard on the north to Southeast Stark Street on the south.