A drug case has been dismissed because Soddy Daisy investigators lacked jurisdiction, prosecutor Bates Bryan said.
Criminal Court Judge Don Poole told Deonte Cooley that his charge of possession of heroin for resale was dismissed.
Prosecutor Bryan said the case was worked with an undercover investigation by the Soddy Daisy Police. But he said the trailer park where Cooley lives is in the city of Chattanooga. It is behind the Race Trac convenience store on Highway 153, not far from the Soddy Daisy line.
The prosecutor said there is state law that allows police officers for municipalities to work cases within a mile of the city boundary. But he said the law further states that they cannot handle cases that are within a mile of another municipality.
He also said that the sheriff's office for many years has given cards to municipal officers "deputizing" them. The prosecutor said this allows those officers to carry their weapons throughout the county, but it does not allow them to work cases throughout the county.
Coty Wamp of the public defender's office, who represented Cooley, said, "Under the one-mile rule, Soddy Daisy officers could go up toward Dayton beyond the Soddy Daisy city limits. But they cannot go south into Chattanooga territory."