JERSEY CITY -- A judge is expected to rule Monday on whether to toss evidence against a Pennsylvania trio arrested in June on charges they tried to go through the Holland Tunnel with a cache of weapons in vehicle marked with gun-rights messages.

Judge Mitzy Galis-Menendez is set to rule in Superior Court on motions by lawyers for the three defendants, who say the evidence in the case -- five loaded handguns, a shotgun, an assault rifle, body armor and three bags of marijuana and a pipe -- should be suppressed.

John Cramsey, 51, of East Greenville, Pa., Dean Smith, 53, Upper Milford Township, Pa., and Kimberly Arendt, 29, of Lehighton, Pa., were jailed following the June 29 stop. They were indicted in October on a total of 63 counts of weapons and drug possession. All three are free on bail.

The Dodge SUV authorities say the three people allegedly found with a cache of guns and body armor drove outside the Holland Tunnel on Tuesday sits in a Port Authority of New York & New Jersey impound lot. (Luke Nozicka | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) 

The lawyers have argued the gun and drug evidence should be suppressed because it was seized during a stop that should never have been made. 

Port Authority Police Officer John Basile testified during a Jan. 12 suppression hearing before Galis-Menenez that he stopped the trio's Dodge pickup because of a crack in the windshield and objects hanging from the rear view mirror that were obstructing the driver's view.

"I never would have walked over to the car if I didn't see a violation," Basile testified. "The vehicle had a cracked windshield, as well as numerous long objects hanging from the windshield mirror."

Lawyers for the trio have argued the blue-and-green, high-suspension truck was stopped was because it was decorated with a large set of cross-hairs, the words "Higher Ground Tactical," and "We the People."

The markings, the lawyers said, suggested to police that the occupants were gun-rights advocates who might be carrying weapons.

The lawyers argued the mere suspicion that weapons might be in the truck based on the markings was not sufficient cause to pull the vehicle over - making the stop a violation of search and seizure laws.

The Constitutional questions, combined with defendant John Cramsey's advocacy for gun rights has attracted widespread attention to the case, particularly among other gun-rights advocates.

Cramsey's lawyer, James Lisa, and Arendt's, Thomas Mirigliano, attacked Basile's assertion that he did not even notice the large slogans, gun-related symbols or even a large, lime-green cooler on the pickup's front-end until after he had spotted the two-foot crack a few inches from the base of the windshield.

After stopping the truck in the slow-moving morning traffic, Basile said he told Smith, who was driving, to pull over to the side of the plaza, and then asked whether there were weapons in the vehicle.

Cramsey, who was sitting in the passenger's seat, said there were, but that they were legally registered to him, and that he was a firearms instructor who trained police officers, Basile said. 

Basile said Cramsey also told him that the trio were on their way to New York City, to rescue the teenage daughter of a Pennsylvania friend who was in a house where heroin was being abused. Basile said Cramsey also told him that his daughter had died of an overdose, and that his son was an addict. 

The girl the trio were on their way was 18-year-old Jenea Patterson.

The teen died of an apparent drug overdose at a hospital near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., according to her father, James Patterson.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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