MAN WRONGLY CONVICTED ON DRUG CHARGE FREED

False testimony by a federal drug task force agent led to the wrongful
conviction of an Arkadelphia man in 1996, a judge said Friday in ordering
the man's immediate release from prison, where he had served 4 1/2 years of
a life sentence.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Forster Jr.'s order, read aloud in the
courtroom, was an emotional moment for both the wrongly convicted man,
Rodney Bragg, 39, and his attorney, Patrick J. Benca of Little Rock.

"I got my heart involved in this case a year and a half ago," Benca said
later Friday, referring to his appointment after Bragg diligently pursued
appeals in state and federal court without a lawyer. "I knew all along he
was telling the truth, that he didn't have anything to do with it."

At Forster's order, announced about 10:30 a.m., Benca accompanied Bragg
back to prison to ensure that he would be immediately "processed out" and
set free -- which he was at 3 p.m.

"The first thing he said was, 'I'm going to go home and spend time with my
family,' " Benca said of the divorced father of two. Benca said Bragg
intended to see his children and his mother, but that his father died while
he was in prison.

"His father was just torn up by this whole thing," Benca said.

Adding insult to injury, Benca said, Bragg also contracted hepatitis while
in prison.

"This guy's been dealt a horrible hand," the young defense attorney said.
"This guy's been in jail for four and a half years for something he didn't
do. When I walked out of there, you couldn't put a price tag on how I felt.
I don't think these things get granted very often."

He was referring to a writ of habeas corpus, which sought a chance to be
heard in an attempt to get relief from his conviction.

Bragg was convicted by a jury on Jan. 19, 1996, in Nevada County Circuit
Court in Prescott of delivery of a controlled substance. The sentence was
punishable by 10 to 40 years or life in prison, and the jury recommended
the latter sentence and a $25,000 fine.

"It was all based on the testimony of one officer," Benca said.

But that officer, agent Keith Ray of the South Central Drug Task Force that
served Clark, Nevada and Hempstead counties, gave testimony that was
"grossly incorrect and either fabricated or intentionally distorted,"
Forster said in a 38-page written ruling.

Ray, who Benca said had previously been a certified law enforcement officer
in Oklahoma, is no longer working for the task force. He resigned when
confronted about his testimony in the case, after parts of it changed
substantially during a federal court hearing last month.

Forster wrote that Bragg, through his own and Benca's "tireless
investigation," has "provided indisputable documentary evidence of his
innocence."

Benca didn't rule out the possibility of a civil lawsuit against Ray,
saying only, "That's something that Mr. Bragg and I will discuss."

Forster noted that three things were critical to securing Bragg's
conviction at trial, and all three came from Ray's testimony. But, he said,
"those three areas of testimony by agent Ray were shown to be absolutely
misleading or untrue."

The three areas all involved Ray's identification of Bragg as the person
who sold him cocaine during an undercover drug operation on March 26, 1993.

According to trial testimony as summarized by Forster, Ray was working
undercover when he went to a Prescott home with a confidential informant to
buy $50 worth of crack cocaine. The resident led Ray to the kitchen door,
and told him to wait there. Ray saw three men sitting at the kitchen table
with a large amount of what appeared to be crack cocaine. After the
resident spoke to one of the men, that man got up from the table and
approached Ray, then handed Ray a piece of crack in exchange for $50.

After leaving the house, Ray described to the confidential informant the
man from whom Ray had bought the drug. The informant wasn't present during
the transaction, but said the man could have been the resident's cousin,
Rodney Mitchel. But when Ray later looked at photographs of Mitchel, he
determined Mitchel wasn't the seller.

Nearly a year later, on March 1, 1994, Ray conducted another undercover
drug operation in Clark County with another informant. Ray gave the
informant $125, and the informant used the cash to buy several rocks of
crack cocaine from a man he knew as "Rodney." Ray testified that he
positioned his vehicle so he could view the delivery, and recognized the
man selling the cocaine as the same man who sold him the cocaine in 1993.

Ray testified that he ran a check on the license plate number and it
checked back to Bragg. Ray also said that he contacted the Nevada County
sheriff's office and got a photograph of Bragg, through which he positively
identified Bragg as the man who sold him the drug in 1993.

Forster said Bragg's conviction was sealed on three issues: Ray's exclusion
of Rodney Mitchell through sheriff's office photographs, Ray's license
plate check during a drug transaction and, after learning a suspect's name,
verifying an identify through other sheriff's office photographs.

But Ray's investigative notes, which weren't unveiled at trial, revealed
evidence that could have exonerated Bragg, Forster said. The notes said, in
part, "This agent is positive that Rodney Mitchel and Rodney L. Bragg are
the same person."

Also, Forster noted, Bragg proved that he didn't own the gray 1987 Ford
Mustang whose license plate was checked, or have the plate until "well
after" March 1, 1994. Documents show the car was purchased March 22, 1994,
and the tag number that Ray claimed to have checked wasn't issued until
March 23, 1994.

The seller of the vehicle substantiated the bill of sale and, when asked if
Bragg could have used the Mustang on March 1, 1994, testified, "Ain't no
way possible," Forster's order noted.

The order further states that during the November evidentiary hearing,
Bragg presented a statement from the Nevada County sheriff's office saying
that it has never had photographs of Mitchel on file. And photos of Bragg
- -- which Ray said he used to identify Bragg on March 1, 1994 -- weren't
available until June 21, 1994.

Forster noted later in his order that "the evidence now shows that there
never was an individual named Rodney Mitchel, nor photographs of an
individual purporting to be Rodney Mitchel." The judge noted that, when
confronted with that evidence, Ray admitted that when he testified at
Bragg's trial that he excluded Mitchel, and he knew his testimony was false.

Forster noted that at the federal hearing, the court heard testimony from
Henry Morgan, who is the Clark County prosecutor and the current head of
the task force, but wasn't involved in Bragg's prosecution. Morgan
testified that he was "deeply troubled" that Ray's report listed the
license plate number of Bragg's Mustang weeks before Bragg bought the car
and was assigned the license number. Morgan testified that he had
personally investigated the matter "looking for an explanation," but "found
no information to put his discomfort to rest."

His questioning of Ray led to Ray's resignation, Forster said.

Benca said he didn't know what motivated Ray to give false testimony, but
he noted that after Bragg's arrest, the task force confiscated the Mustang
and Ray drove it often -- including to Bragg's trial.