State v. Williams

Painter, Judge.

I. Facts

In October 1994, postal authorities became suspicious of an express mail package which postal workers were unable to deliver to the addressee, Michael Underwood, because the house at the address appeared to be vacant. Postal inspector Martin Arthur received a positive alert on the package from a narcotics-detecting dog and obtained a federal search warrant. Upon opening the package, Arthur and Regional Narcotics Unit (“RENU”) agent Thomas Lipps discovered a substance containing cocaine that weighed 1,002.2 grams. The police replaced the cocaine with a “dummy kilo” that…