JURY CONVICTS RINGLEADER, 2 OTHERS IN COCAINE CASE

Two Additional Defendants Are Acquitted In The Trial Involving One Of
Largest Drug Schemes Portland Has Ever Seen

A federal jury convicted drug kingpin Adolph Spears Sr. and two other
defendants Thursday for their roles in a massive rock cocaine importing and
distribution ring that brought hundreds of pounds of the illicit drug from
California to Oregon between 1996 and 1998.

Two other defendants were acquitted Thursday at the end of an seven-week
trial. Fourteen previously pleaded guilty, avoiding a trial.

It was a day of quick-change emotions for everyone in Courtroom 13A in U.S.
District Court in Portland -- lawyers, defendants and their family members
- -- as jurors returned partial verdicts in the morning.

After four days of deliberating, the jurors announced they were deadlocked
on three of the five defendants. District Judge Ancer L. Haggerty asked
them to re-examine their decisions by keeping an open mind and to "question
the correctness" of their present position. They returned a few hours later
with an additional guilty verdict, having completed the task they began
with opening arguments Oct. 18.

Federal officials say the crack cocaine distribution ring was one of the
largest ever in Portland.

A 55-count grand jury indictment accused 25 defendants of various roles in
the operation, alleging drug trafficking and money laundering. It also
sought forfeiture of real estate, at least seven cars, a boat and $5
million in suspected drug money.

According to court records, from 1996 to 1998, Spears, Byron Van Branch Jr.
and Daren Keith McCoy imported cocaine powder from Fresno, Calif., to the
Portland area.

The drugs were dropped at several houses in Portland and Vancouver, Wash.,
where they were cooked into hard rocks, called "crack," which usually is
smoked. The rocks were redistributed to midlevel dealers and eventually
trickled down to street dealers and drug houses in Portland and Southwest
Washington.

In order to launder their drug profits, the prosecutors said Spears and
Branch ran a business, LCH Auto Sales. Court papers described their
methods: Branch would buy cars at auction, then resell them, sometimes at a
loss. Then they would show large profits on the car sales to cover their
drug profits.

The auto business also provided legitimate employment cover for the
operation's underlings. LCH insured "load cars," including a Dodge Intrepid
with a hidden compartment in the passenger-side airbag. That car was seized
in July 1997 by Vancouver police responding to a report of men with guns.
They found cocaine, guns and a bulletproof vest in the car.

Prosecutors used the cars to help tie the conspiracy together, showing
jurors the maintenance, car registration and mileage records as well as
motel and rental car receipts, along with surveillance photos. Other
evidence included recorded telephone wiretaps.

Little emotion

The jury found Spears, 57, guilty of the drug conspiracy, a money
laundering conspiracy, one count of possession of cocaine with intent to
distribute and three money laundering counts. Jurors deadlocked on another
money laundering count, which was dismissed. Spears, who was convicted in
1979 for hiring a hit man to kill an Internal Revenue Service agent, showed
little emotion throughout the trial and as the verdicts were read. His
attorney had no comment.

Dana A. Hodge was convicted of one count of conspiracy to traffic drugs.
Hodge, 33, maintained a cook house where cocaine was stored and made into
crack. She was crying after the verdict, and her attorney, Robert Schrank,
said he would appeal.

Jurors also convicted Jonya Burgess, 28, of one count of money laundering
but acquitted her on the stiffer drug conspiracy count. The jury acquitted
Carlotta L. Franklin, 34, of the drug conspiracy count and eight money
laundering counts. Jonathan D. Norman, 29, was acquitted of the drug
conspiracy.

His attorney, Lynne Morgan, said the jury looked really hard at a mountain
of evidence and said deciding the case wasn't easy. "It's the right
decision," she said.

Prosecutors had little to say after the verdicts. They had spent more than
two years investigating and preparing the massive case. And another trial
is set for April in which Branch and four others will be tried for their
alleged roles in the drug-dealing operation.

A Traffic Stop

Portland police and the FBI began investigating the case as early as 1996,
but it was blown open in November 1997, when a California Highway Patrol
officer pulled over a speeding 1989 Cadillac with two men inside just north
of Sacramento on Interstate 5.

The car was registered in Oregon to Burgess. The officer eventually found
two secret compartments behind the rear seat side panels containing more
than 25 pounds of cocaine. Agents testified that the smugglers used several
cars with secret compartments. The agents said the defendants also rented
cars and stashed the drugs inside laundry detergent boxes that were resealed.

McCoy was one of 14 who pleaded guilty. He is perhaps the most infamous as
well, having shot to death a notorious Portland gangster, Anthony "lil
Smurf" Branch Jr., in the parking lot of a Northeast Portland strip club in
October 1997. McCoy and several others made deals with prosecutors to
testify in exchange for lighter sentences.

Spears faces a sentence of 20 years to life in federal prison, given that
he has a prior drug charge. Hodge faces 10 years to life. Sentencing for
Spears, Hodge and Burgess is set for Feb. 12.