THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, February 29, 1996            TAG: 9602290312
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: ACCOMAC                            LENGTH: Short :   47 lines

WARRANT QUESTION SETTLED, AGENCY WINS FISH CASE OFFICER HAD SEIZED ILLEGALLY CAUGHT ROCKFISH ON DOCK.

When Judy Mackley, a patrol officer with the Virginia Marine Rescources Commission, walked onto a private dock in Onancock Jan. 30, she had no idea anything illegal was going on.

She'd been on the property, unchallenged, before. But this day her stroll took her past the open door of a packing house where she saw untagged rockfish. She seized all 900 pounds and cited the waterman who had the fish and had rented the dock.

On Wednesday, the waterman, Barry Thomas Johnson, tried to get the charges dropped. His lawyer's argument: without a search warrant, the seizure was illegal and the evidence was thus inadmissable in court.

The case had far-reaching implications for the VMRC and was watched closely by the agency, which is charged with policing the state's commercial fishing industry.

VMRC officers walk on private docks every day to inspect what waterman have caught.

If Mackley had needed a search warrant, the precedent could make enforcement of fishing laws much more difficult.

But Judge Robert B. Phillips challenged attorney Jon Poulson's argument.

``Are you saying the VMRC does not have the right to walk on a private dock to inspect a commercial fishing operation?'' Phillips asked during the hearing to suppress the evidence against Johnson. ``Is that what you're arguing?''

Phillips ruled against Johnson's request to throw out the evidence. He said Mackley had a right to go onto the dock and that VMRC officers - in the normal course of their duties - often have been allowed on the property before.

Since she had a right to be there, said Phillips, the untagged rockfish that she saw through the open door of the packing house constituted ``probable cause'' for a legal search and seizure.

The arguments over the need for a search warrant took four hours. Once Phillips found the evidence admissible, however, Johnson's trial was short and to the point.

He was found guilty and fined $250. by CNB