A woman who allegedly attempted to conceal multiple pills had her case bound over to the grand jury. 

Peggy Brown Martin had a preliminary hearing in General Sessions Court last week. She is charged with tampering with evidence, possession of schedule IV drugs and possession of schedule II drugs. Assistant District Attorney Felecia Walkup called Warren County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Ali Lopez to testify. 

Lopez testified that she went to the residence on Winding Way because Martin had an active arrest warrant out for a violation of probation. Lopez knew where to locate Martin because she had been to the residence before to arrest Martin’s boyfriend.  

She said, “When I arrived at the front door, I observed Miss Martin standing there and I informed her she had an active arrest warrant. She immediately reached for her right pocket and retreated to her bedroom. I followed her into the bedroom and I observed her take a pill bottle that was unlabeled and place it into a storage chest that had numerous amounts of clothing. She shoved it underneath that.”

Walkup asked if Lopez was able to recover the pill bottle. Lopez said Martin retrieved the pill bottle along with a baggie full of pills and placed them on the bed. Before being handcuffed, Martin then dumped the pills into the storage container. 

“She dumped all of the contents into the chest. There was already a large amount of belongings in there, so it was extremely difficult to recover that,” said Lopez. 

“Were you able to sift through the storage container and retrieve some or all of them?” asked Walkup.

“Yes, she actually consented to a search of the entire storage chest. We were able to retrieve some, but not all,” said Lopez. 

Lopez testified the pills in Martin’s possession were Xanax and Hydrocodone. Public Defender John Partin then cross-examined Lopez and asked if it was difficult to retrieve all the pills and she said it was. 

Partin asked if the entire interaction was preserved on bodycam footage and Lopez said it was. Walkup then redirected and asked if Lopez found anything else indicating Martin may be selling drugs. Lopez stated she also found a drug ledger. 

In closing, Partin moved to dismiss the tampering with evidence charge. He cited Stave v. Hawkins where the Supreme Court determined a difference between abandonment versus tampering. In the case, there had been a shooting and the defendant tossed the weapon over a fence. It was later found and he was charged and convicted of tampering with evidence. The Supreme Court reversed the conviction and ruled it was seen as abandonment as opposed to tampering.  

“Tampering with evidence involves an attempt to make the evidence unable to be reclaimed or unable to prosecute. The examples given were swallowing drugs, flushing drugs and things of that nature. In this case, it all happened in front of the officer and everything was recovered. I would submit that this is very similar to the Hawkins case,” said Partin.

“It is not the same. The officer clearly encountered her and said, ‘I have an active warrant for you.’ She turned immediately going away from the officer in an attempt to conceal the evidence. Concealing it first in her pocket and retrieving it from her pocket and concealing it in the storage container., trying further to conceal it from the officer. The fact that the officer can say she saw her do it does not change the fact that she tried to conceal the evidence,” said Walkup. 

“She is not charged with concealing, she is charged with tampering,” said Partin. 

“Part of that is concealing it,” said Walkup. 

General Sessions Judge Ryan J. Moore found the state met its burden of probable cause and bound the case over to the grand jury.