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At Abisai Martinez-Castellanos' trial on drug charges, Juror One was a retired Utah Highway Patrol trooper — in fact, Paul Mangelson, well-known for his part in the war on drugs — and knew the officer who allegedly found methamphetamine and hydrocodone in the defendant's car.

During jury selection, Juror Two said if someone had drugs in the car, he was probably guilty. Juror Six expressed reservations about her ability to function as a juror.

And the defense attorney never filed any briefs to support a motion to throw out the evidence found in the 2010 traffic stop. Martinez-Castellanos was convicted and sentenced to 30 days in jail and 24 months of probation.

On Friday, citing the cumulative effect of several errors in the case, the Utah Court of Appeals reversed Martinez-Castellanos' convictions, saying its confidence that a fair trial occurred "is significantly shaken." The decision by a three-judge panel sends the case back to 4th District Court for a new trial with a new attorney.

Judge Stephen Roth wrote that "a breakdown in the adversarial process happened here." Judge Kate Toomey concurred in his opinion; Judge Gregory Orme, who agreed with the ultimate result and much of the lead opinion, wrote a separate opinion.

The lead opinion does not name Mangelson as Juror One, but Orme identified him.

"It is impossible to understand the magnitude of the problem with his selection as a juror in this case without knowing his identity," Orme wrote.

Although Mangelson was "a very effective warrior on the Utah front of the war on drugs," he was not necessarily an expert on Fourth Amendment search-and-seizure requirements, Orme wrote. He pointed out that many of trooper's stops were determined to be illegal by the courts.

"In a case like this one, Sergeant Mangelson's impartiality could, to put it mildly, be reasonably questioned," Orme wrote, "and it was inexcusable for defense counsel not to have moved that Sergeant Mangelson be excused for cause, a motion that would have been granted without the trial judge batting an eye."

Milton Harmon, Martinez-Castellanos' trial attorney, said Monday he was glad to hear the convictions had been overturned and hoped there would not be a retrial.

"That was an appropriate decision," he said. "The case is one that should be dismissed."

Martinez-Castellanos, now 36, was driving north on Interstate 15 in Juab County in June 2010 when a trooper who was completing a traffic stop on the other side of the highway spotted his car, according to court records. Without turning off his emergency lights from the prior stop, the officer crossed the median and accelerated to close the distance between his cruiser and Martinez-Castellanos' car.

The trooper saw the car's California license plates was missing one of the two required registration stickers and pulled over the vehicle, court records say. Martinez-Castellanos provided his driver license, valid registration and proof of insurance, the records say.

The trooper learned through a background check that Martinez-Castellanos had theft charges dating back to 1997 and drug charges in 2001 and 2006, according to the court documents. He testified that the criminal history, along with Martinez-Castellanos' rapid speech and movements, heightened his suspicions.

Based on field sobriety tests, the trooper concluded Martinez-Castellanos was under the influence of a controlled substance, court records say. Martinez-Castellanos said he had knives in the car and based on his criminal record, the trooper believed he could not legally possess them.

The trooper arrested Martinez-Castellanos and allegedly found two pocket knives, a marijuana grinder, a lighter, two glass pipes, three hydrocodone pills, methamphetamine and seven prescription pills, according to court records.

Martinez-Castellanos, who denied the items were his, testified he purchased the car before making the trip to Utah and did not have time to clean the vehicle, court records say.

After preliminary questioning of potential jurors in a 4th District Court courtroom in Nephi, Judge M. James Brady and the lawyers questioned some of them further in chambers.

Because the courtroom microphone was left on during the entire process, the in-chambers audio recording was unintelligible. A reconstructed record based on the memories of the participants about 15 months later says Mangelson disclosed he knew the arresting trooper but assured the attorneys and judge he could be fair.

At the conclusion of a one-day trial, the eight-member jury convicted Martinez-Castellanos of two felonies of possession or use of a controlled substance and two related misdemeanors. Martinez-Castellanos, now represented by attorneys Linda M. Jones and Noella A. Sudbury, appealed, leading to Friday's decision.

Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC