A Coeur d’Alene judge dismissed a heroin possession case because officers did not have probable cause when they detained a Pullman man who sat in a car parked outside the Rite Aid at Ironwood Mall.

Prosecutors on Friday said the state attorney general’s office may appeal First District Judge Richard Christensen’s order to suppress evidence in the case, which led to the dismissal.

An April 16 hearing will determine the case’s status.

Christensen ruled the heroin — valued around $20 — police found last summer in Jesse J. Klure’s backpack inside his car could not be used as evidence for a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance.

The charge carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence.

According to reports, Klure was sitting in his parked car and using his cell phone around 10:45 p.m. June 15 when a police officer confronted him, questioned him and eventually called a drug-sniffing K9, which alerted on Klure’s vehicle.

Klure, a 33-year-old WSU college student, told police he was in Coeur d’Alene visiting his daughter for Father’s Day.

His attorney, Robyn McPherson, argued that police dragged out a conversation with Klure while prohibiting him from leaving. Police questioned Klure for several minutes and eventually called a drug-detection dog without reasonable suspicion that Klure was in possession of drugs, McPherson said.

“The questions had nothing to do with an investigatory stop,” McPherson said at a January hearing. “(An officer) walking up with a uniform and a gun and blocking movement of the car is different than in a store aisle asking how is your day.”

Christensen said police violated Klure’s Fourth Amendment right to unreasonable search and seizures.

“There is most likely a seizure when the defendant is asked to step out (of his car),” Christensen said.

He said officers also detained Klure too long while waiting for the K9.

“This is a harsh result for the state... due to the Fourth Amendment and the law,” Christensen said.