INMATES SEEK TO OVERTURN CONVICTIONS UNDER OLD WIRETAPPING LAW

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- Six federal prisoners have asked a judge to set them
free because they were convicted of drug offenses under an expired
wiretapping law.

This week U.S. District Judge William Downes ordered prosecutors to respond
to the "habeas corpus" petitions of the defendants. Prosecutors and defense
attorneys are filing arguments over the status of federal and state
criminal cases that were brought to court under a state law that expired
back in 1995.

No one apparently noticed the law had expired five years ago until a
researcher discovered the expiration date as a footnote in the law books
this year. The overlooked law means a number of cases old and pending over
the past five years may be on shaky legal ground. Authorities used the law
to secretly record telephone conversations of criminal suspects. A similar
federal law exists but it was not used to authorize wiretapping. The state
Division of Criminal Investigation used wiretaps infrequently but targeted
major players in drug organizations with them.

Many of the convictions stemmed from a mass arrest of 16 people last
February in the Casper area. Authorities raided three businesses and seized
three houses, cash, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. Wyoming
Attorney General Gay Woodhouse has said law may still be in effect because
the Legislature amended it in 1997, and due process may have been
adequately followed.

Last month Downes threw out three federal cases involving 17 people.
Prosecutors reserve the right to refile the charges against them. Natrona
County District Attorney Kevin Meenan said two state cases in Casper are
awaiting a judge's decision on whether wiretapping evidence should be
suppressed

"We have several other cases where there were actually convictions
obtained," Meenan said. "Whether those issues will be raised on appeal, we
don't know yet."

"The unfortunate thing is they are very serious prosecutions and very
serious cases, so we are doing everything we can" to keep the convictions
upheld, he said.