Drug Charge Against Irvin Dismissed

A felony drug charge against former Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin was dismissed Monday because prosecutors said an officer conducted a search without a warrant.

A judge honored a state request dismissing the felony charge of possessing less than a gram of cocaine.

Irvin was indicted in June, 10 months after he and a woman were arrested at a Dallas apartment where law officers said they found marijuana and ecstasy pills. He has insisted that the drugs were not his, that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A prosecutor said in a motion in court in Denton County that attorneys learned last week that a warrantless search had been conducted of the apartment.

"Until this fact was revealed to the state, the state was under the belief that all of the evidence that the state intended to introduce in the trial of Michael Irvin ...was found in plain view in the apartment when the officers entered the apartment," according to the motion.

The investigation called into question the testimony of material witnesses and prosecutors said that without that testimony, the state couldn't present a case against Irvin.

"Our initial reaction is one of great relief," said Peter Ginsberg, one of Irvin's attorneys. "We are glad Michael can go on with his life now."

Prosecutors said they had not been able to question the officer before last week because of an internal investgation involving an unrelated internal affairs investigation.

The district attorney's office could not be reached by telephone for comment Monday night.

Irvin retired in July 2000 and was hired for Fox Sports Net's Sunday pregame show. He lost that job a few weeks later after an initial arrest in the North Dallas apartment case.

Irvin was arrested Aug. 9, 2000, at the apartment where law officers said they found marijuana and other drugs. Authorities said they found less than 2 ounces of marijuana along with ecstasy pills. Irvin was not charged after the arrest. The indictment on the cocaine charge was returned in June.

In 1996, Irvin pleaded no contest to felony cocaine possession in exchange for four years of deferred probation, a $10,000 fine and dismissal of misdemeanor marijuana possession charges.

The NFL suspended Irvin for five games. He finished his deferred probation on the charge just before he announced his retirement.

He was a member of three Super Bowl champion teams with the Cowboys and established himself over 12 seasons as one of the NFL's best receivers.