Test doesn't shake out in drug case
May 22—By Barry Porterfield
One way of testing money to see if it's somehow connected to illegal drug activity didn't shake out and won't be part of a Garvin County criminal case dating back to 2022.
It's been called a "shake test" as a judge has ruled it will not be admitted into the case against a Texas man accused of carrying currency involved in drug sales.
Just weeks ago Jesus Eduardo Guardiola, 39, sat in a Garvin County District courtroom listening to his defense attorney, Dan Pond of Norman, argue against the validity of a shake test showing the $30,000 found in his client's vehicle did have the presence of illegal drugs.
Guardiola was formally charged with acquiring proceeds from drug activity after a traffic stop on Dec. 19, 2022, in a southern portion of Garvin County.
When law enforcement officers shook the money over paper they reported it tested positive for drugs.
More recently, District Judge Leah Edwards stated in her written ruling the shake test results will be excluded from Guardiola's case, which is currently on the district's jury docket for September.
"After reviewing of the pleadings and preliminary hearing transcript and listening to the argument of counsel, the court grant's defendant's request to exclude law enforcement's shake test," Edwards said in the ruling.
At issue was a "shake test" officers used when they rolled out butcher paper and shook the money over the paper. Then a test showed the presence of cocaine and marijuana.
"The state relied in part upon the results of the shake test evidence at a preliminary hearing to establish probable cause the defendant possessed $30,000 in U.S. currency derived from illicit drug activity," the judge said.
"The court fails to find any evidence that the shake test has long been recognized as the proper subject of expert testimony."
The judge determined there was no case law from state or federal courts where this issue has been litigated or "even raised."
"The state cites no facts or data to demonstrate the reliability of the conclusion reached by the shake test."
During an April 5 hearing in a Pauls Valley courtroom, it was Pond who argued that "science has proven that money is contaminated."
"It's our inference that up to 97 percent of all U.S. currency is contaminated with some sort of drug residue. That doesn't mean it was used in a drug transaction," he said.
"We don't have any information on how this shake test was performed in a scientific manner. The state relies on a field test. These officers use it as a definitive answer that this money was tainted with drugs, therefore it's for a drug transaction. There's no scientific evidence to support this conclusion.
"Testing residue is science but it isn't a reliable conclusion. It's the state's responsibility to prove the scientific validity of these tests."
A pre-trial hearing in the case is currently scheduled for early August.
