Gary P. Lee, 39, and Scott C. Tanner, 33, walked out of a Wake County courtroom without a judge's ruling on their guilt or innocence because the prosecutor never established in evidence that the alleged assaults this summer happened in Wake County.

Rene Dennis Thomas, a line cook at Blinco's sports bar in North Raleigh, testified that several men threatened him using racial slurs and pushed him in the bar's parking lot on the night of July 20. Thomas is black. Lee and Tanner are white.

The question of the trial was to be: Did the two former officers assault the cook?

Instead, the trial hinged on: Where is Blinco's sport bar?

After both sides rested their cases, defense lawyer Tommy Manning asked the judge to dismiss his client's charge.

"The state, through its witnesses and evidence, did not establish jurisdiction within Wake County," said Manning, who represents Lee. Duncan McMillan, who represents Tanner, joined the motion to dismiss.

Every time prosecutor Matt Godwin tried to explain beyond what was said in evidence, McMillan shouted: "Objection."

"I got that Blinco's is on Glenwood Avenue," Wake District Court Judge Debra Sasser said, glancing at her notes from the daylong trial. "That's what I've got. That's it."

"Well, Judge," Godwin interjected.

"I don't know where. There are some things that I'll take judicial notice of if I know where it is, but I don't know where it is," the judge said.

Blinco's is at 6711 Glenwood Ave. But Glenwood Avenue is also known as U.S. 70. -- a highway that runs through Wake and Durham counties.

Thomas could not be reached for comment after the cases were dismissed.

Tanner, who was a Durham officer for nine years, was charged with simple assault for allegedly kicking Thomas in the head. Lee, a seven-year veteran, faced the same charge for allegedly striking and tackling Thomas and causing him to fall to the ground.

Officers dismissed

Lee and Tanner were fired last month after Durham police completed an internal probe into the brawl.

"They can file a grievance about the dismissal, but these were two separate investigations -- the criminal and the internal," said Kammie Michael, a Durham police spokeswoman. She added that the pair's firings were based on the results of the internal investigation.

"You have to allege and prove the offense occurred within the county where you are being charged," Manning said after whisking his client from the courtroom. "The state didn't prove the address, didn't reproduce a map and didn't ask the judge to take judicial notice of the street address -- so if there's no proof it happened here, then that's a failure of proof and the judge has to dismiss the case."

Manning said that he has used the legal technique 20 or 30 times in his 30-year career and that it has worked "every time."

Godwin, the prosecutor, said days like Monday in court "can happen."

"It was on my mind, but I didn't know it would be a jurisdictional issue," he said.

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