Courtroom debates Friday centered around whether probation officers had the right to enter a hotel room where a Butler man was found with drugs and a gun.

William S. Stuteville, 28, faces several drug charges, including possession with intent to deliver and criminal conspiracy. He had a pretrial hearing Friday with county Judge William Shaffer.

His defense attorney, Armand Cingolani, questioned whether his client's discovery and arrest betrayed his own 14th Amendment rights.

“Did you have a warrant?” Cingolani asked witnesses, various times.

Stuteville's former probation officer, Amanda Jackson, explained how he was arrested. She had received a tip from county Detective Timothy Fennell, who told her that he had heard that Stuteville had been robbed and was possibly selling drugs out of the Super 8 on Route 8 in Butler Township with his girlfriend, Elizabeth A. Walker, 22. The incident occurred May 18, and Walker has since died.

Cingolani described the tip as “hearsay.” Jackson said pursuing such tips are a regular part of her job.

Jackson arrived with two other officers. One saw plastic sandwich bags in the room, two joints on a bedside table and Stuteville lying on the bed, probation officers reported. They promptly entered.

The hotel room was rented under the name of Stuteville's girlfriend, not his.

Stuteville questioned why probation officers entered the room without a warrant and without getting explicit permission to do so.

The probation officers knocked and said “probation” loudly, and the room's occupants scrambled for a few seconds before it opened, Jackson said. Walker opened the door and confirmed to the officers that Stuteville was there, she said.

The line of questioning from Patricia McClean, first assistant district attorney, focused around a document Stuteville signed when he entered probation. The document states that Stuteville consented to being searched while under probation, and that evidence seized could be used as evidence against him.

Jackson said she asked Stuteville, “Bill, what are you doing?” upon entering. He shrugged his shoulders, she said.

Shaffer took the discussion under advisement to make a decision later.