The raid of a Jeannette bar more than four years ago resulted in the illegal search of a customer, a judge ruled Friday.

William Lamont Lewis, 42, of Pittsburgh, was charged with drug and weapons offenses following a state Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement raid of Punch and Juniors Bar on Oct. 17, 2015. According to court records, police say Lewis refused to give any identification to police who accompanied state liquor agents, a situation that prompted him to be searched.

Police said that search found Lewis in possession of cocaine, heroin, nearly $900 in cash and a handgun.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger, in a 10-page opinion, ruled the search was improper and ordered that prosecutors cannot use evidence seized that night against Lewis. The judge wrote that a check by state agents to determine whether the bar was following rules set by the liquor enforcement board was not grounds to search customers without cause.

“The liquor code does not, and a conditional licensing agreement cannot, create a zone within “nuisance bars” where constitutional rights of private citizens are abridged, modified, reduced or eliminated. Everything that followed the impermissible demand that the defendant produce positive identification was fruit of the poisonous tree,” Krieger ruled.

The Clay Avenue business, according to prosecutors, was identified by authorities as a “nuisance bar” but Krieger noted in his opinion that no evidence was introduced to support claims that it was formally identified as a trouble spot for criminal activity. The bar has since closed.

Assistant District Attorney Jackie Knupp said Friday the judge’s ruling will cripple the criminal case against Lewis.

Knupp said she will review Krieger’s ruling to determine if an appeal will be filed.

Lewis, who has been in a Lawrence County jail for other offenses, is slated to be tried next month in Westmoreland County on the charges associated with the Jeannette arrest.

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