Corey A. Moore is known as the “Teflon defendant” because of his ability to beat criminal charges and win court rulings.
But in the past two weeks, Moore has been dealt two legal setbacks in his most recent case, an indictment on gun and drug charges in federal court in Greenbelt. An appeals court ruled that prosecutors can use key evidence that a judge had previously thrown out, and he’s back behind bars as he awaits trial.
Moore earned the “Teflon” moniker when he made it through four mistrials in a 1994 D.C. murder case, leading prosecutors to drop the charge. Over the years, he’s been acquitted of various murder, assault, drug and weapons charges.
In the current case, he was arrested in Takoma Park in September 2010 after he allegedly threw a bottle at a police officer while carrying a half kilogram of cocaine. Two days later, officers searched his home, finding PCP, weapons and ammunition, court records say. But U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams ruled that the evidence seized from the apartment was inadmissible because police didn’t have probable cause to search the residence.
Prosecutors appealed that ruling, and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that “the evidence seized in the search of Moore’s residence should not have been suppressed, because the officers’ reliance on the warrant was objectively reasonable.” The search warrant “conclusively established the close proximity” of where Moore was arrested with drugs and where he lived, and there was a “plausible nexus” between narcotics and his home, the appeals court said.
Moore’s attorneys, who could not be reached for comment, had argued that police had no reason to believe contraband would be found at the residence based solely on Moore’s arrest.
Prosecutors asserted that Moore was apprehended with drugs near his apartment and dealers generally keep narcotics at their residences.
After the Fourth Circuit ruling, prosecutors sought to revoke Moore’s release. He also violated the conditions of his release by leaving his residence without authorization twice in April, prosecutors wrote in court papers.
Citing the evidence against him and the violations, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jillyn Schulze has ordered Moore to be detained pending trial.
A jury trial is scheduled for October.
