One man charged in a heroin trafficking case and was indicted in January took a plea last week while the case of another man linked to him is tied up in a motion to suppress evidence.

Terry Louis Kearney of Roanoke Rapids signed a memorandum of plea agreement and waived his right to arraignment before a United States district court judge, according to documents filed in the electronic court record.

According to notes filed in his case, Kearney entered a guilty plea to count 2 and the court approved dismissing counts 1, 3, and 4 against him at sentencing.

His sentencing is scheduled for January 6 in New Bern before District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan.

The count Kearney is pleading guilty to charges he knowingly and intentionally possessed with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of heroin.

Court documents filed in January initially showed Kearney and Deandre “DD” Miles were expected to be tried in their cases. An indictment tied the two men to one another.

As Kearney awaits his sentencing, the fentanyl trafficking case of Miles is tied up in a motion filed by his counsel to suppress evidence seized relating to what is described as “an unlawful GPS mobile tracking device and invalid search warrant for residence with memorandum of law.”

The motion was referred to United States Magistrate Judge Robert T. Numbers II in July and thus far there has been no ruling.

Assistant United States Attorney Nick J. Miller filed the motion on behalf of Eastern District Attorney Robert J. Higdon Jr.

Miller argues, “The court should deny the defendant’s motion to suppress for several reasons. First, the superior court judge’s order was a valid warrant under the Fourth Amendment.” Second, Miller reasons, “The proper remedy for a statutory or technical violation is not suppression of the evidence. Third, the officers relied in good faith on the judicial order and the statutes authorizing the search, and therefore suppression would not  be an appropriate remedy. “Fourth, even if the court determines that a portion of the warrant is invalid and the good-faith exception does not apply, the proper remedy is severance of the offending portion, not the suppression of the entire order. If the court deems the order valid, the evidence that was seized as a result should not be suppressed or excluded.”

The indictment against Miles reportedly links him to the distribution of 100 grams or more of heroin and 400 grams or more of fentanyl.

A criminal complaint filed in the case of Miles alleged he “is a major supplier of heroin and fentanyl in Halifax and Northampton counties.”