The Latest: Judge won’t throw out tunnel case evidence

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The Latest on the Holland Tunnel weapons cache case (all times local):

10:15 a.m.

A New Jersey judge has declined to throw out evidence obtained during a traffic stop of three Pennsylvania residents who said they were on a rescue mission to help save a teen from a New York heroin den.

Judge Mitzy Galis-Menendez announced her decision publicly in court on Monday in Jersey City.

She declined to throw out the traffic stop after a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officer said he stopped the vehicle because it had a cracked windshield and objects hanging from the rearview mirror. There was a cache of weapons in the car.

John Cramsey, Dean Smith and Kimberly Arendt have all pleaded not guilty to weapons possession charges.

The judge gave prosecutors until Friday to offer plea deals to the defendants.

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2 a.m.

A New Jersey judge is weighing the fate of three Pennsylvania residents who said they were on a rescue mission to help save a teenager from a New York heroin den when they were stopped with a cache of weapons.

Judge Mitzy Galis-Menendez is to rule Monday in Jersey City on whether a police officer had probable cause to stop the car at the Holland Tunnel last June.

John Cramsey, Dean Smith and Kimberly Arendt, all of Pennsylvania, have pleaded not guilty to weapons possession charges.

The story already has ended tragically for the teen at the centre of the case.

James Patterson says his daughter, Jenea (jeh-NAE’), died of an apparent drug overdose last month at a hospital near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.