LAW OFFICERS TELL OF NIGHT OF ARREST

Woman testifies she arranged deals for ex-Dallas Cowboys running back;
former co-defendants tell of hauling drug between Texas and Mobile

12/06/00
By GEORGE WERNETH
Staff Reporter

A Dallas woman who identified herself as "an exotic entertainer"
testified Tuesday in the federal drug trial of former professional
football player Sherman Williams that he had her arrange numerous
large marijuana transactions for him over a period of about 18 months.

Demetric Beans said she met Williams in 1996 and said he was her
"boyfriend." She testified that in 1998 he asked, "Did I know where he
could buy marijuana from?"

She said she agreed to help Williams find marijuana suppliers through
the contacts she could make.

Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Griffin, Beans
said marijuana deals were made at her residence many times and that
Williams made buys from suppliers in amounts ranging from 50 to 100
pounds.

Beans, who pleaded guilty to drug charges and agreed to testify
against Williams, told the jury, "I didn't make any money off of any
of it."

She was one of a number of prosecution witnesses who implicated
Williams before the government rested its case at the end of the day.

Three men originally named as co-defendants in the case - Roderick
Ward, Demetrius Thomas and Frank Freeman - have pleaded guilty and
testified for the prosecution in the Williams trial.

Thomas, 24, testified Tuesday that he made five trips from Mobile to
the Dallas area to obtain marijuana ranging in amounts from 50 to 100
pounds for Williams.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Robert F. "Cowboy" Clark,
Thomas admitted he was later ordered detained by a U.S. magistrate
after he lied to an FBI agent in the case. Thomas said he entered a
plea agreement with the prosecution in hopes of getting a lighter sentence.

Ward testified that he made three separate trips from Mobile to Texas
and back to buy marijuana for Williams in the amount of 10 pounds each.

"He was a childhood friend of mine," Ward said. "He's been my friend
since I was 12 years old."

Under cross-examination by Clark, Ward admitted that he expected to
get a recommendation from the prosecution for a substantial reduction
of his sentence, down to 18-24 months. He also admitted that he had
earlier lied to an FBI agent in the case "because Mr. Williams was my
friend."

Clark: "You had a long history of using cocaine, didn't you?"

Ward: "Yes, sir."

Rodney Patrick, a Mobile police officer attached to the Mobile County
Street Enforcement Narcotics Team, testified that Williams fled on
foot after drug officers went to arrest him after an April 21
surveillance detail in west Mobile following a drug
transaction.

"It was night," Patrick said. "We were running - we were chasing Mr.
Williams. All kinds of lights were on."

Patrick said he and other officers chased the former Dallas Cowboys
and University of Alabama running back into a ditch off Moffett Road.

Patrick conceded under cross-examination by Clark that the law
enforcement vehicles parked at the scene were unmarked. But under
re-direct examination by Griffin, he said, "Everybody was yelling for
him to stop."

There also was testimony from Drug Enforcement Administration
fingerprint specialist Greg Soltis of Dallas that fingerprints found
on plastic bags of marijuana from Freeman's west Mobile apartment
belonged to Williams.

Williams, 27, went on trial Monday on charges of trafficking and
conspiracy in connection with what prosecutors say was up to 1,000
pounds of marijuana.

On Monday, Freeman, 28, said he ran drugs for Williams four times from
1997 until he was arrested in April, when he became a government witness.

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Butler Jr. told the jurors
the case should go to them for deliberations sometime today.

Court is expected to resume at 9 a.m. today.