EX-ABERNATHYOFFICER GUILTY OF POT POSSESSION

Former Abernathy police officer Benjamin Buono was found guilty Thursday of
a misdemeanor charge of possessing marijuana stemming from a traffic stop
on Feb. 23.

Buono, 27, still faces a misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charge from
the same incident. The drugs were found in the car, which was not Buono's,
during an inventory search after he was arrested for DWI.

The three-man, three-woman Lubbock County jury deliberated about an hour
before reaching a verdict.

The jury will determine Buono's sentence today. He faces up to six months
in the Lubbock County Jail and/or a $2,000 fine.

During the sentencing phase of the trial, prosecutors presented witnesses
discussing previous allegations against Buono while he was a Slaton police
officer.

One witness said Buono was intoxicated and pulled a gun on him in a
convenience store parking lot on Sept. 17, 1998.

''He grabbed my arm and pulled out his pistol. When he pulled the pistol, I
told him I was going to call the law,'' Glen Robinson, a store customer,
testified. ''He was drunk, carrying a gun and carrying a badge.''

Jonathan Camp, who went with Robinson to the Lubbock convenience store that
night, said he was nervous, but not scared of Buono.

Camp said Buono threatened to arrest him if he attempted to leave. Asked if
he was scared of Buono, Camp replied, ''I thought maybe it was the alcohol
talking.''

Inside the store, Buono was upset that the store required him to place his
fingerprint on a check, Mary Hamilton, the store clerk that night,
testified Thursday.

''He said he is an officer and he shouldn't have to put his fingerprint on
the check,'' she told the jury.

A Lubbock police investigation into the incident did not result in criminal
charges against Buono.

Buono was pulled over by a Lubbock-Cooper school district police officer
who reported seeing him driving the wrong direction on a one-way street the
night of Feb. 23.

He was initially charged with driving while intoxicated after failing field
sobriety tests. A trial date for the DWI charge has not been set.