LAWSUIT AGAINST KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT ENDS IN MISTRIAL

The trial of a lawsuit claiming the Knox County Sheriffs' Department was
responsible for the disappearance of a little more than $70,000 in cash
after its owner suddenly died ended with a deadlocked jury. After hearing
four days of testimony a Knox County Circuit Court jury deliberated into
the night Friday before indicating to Circuit Judge Dale C. Workman that it
was unable to reach a verdict.

Workman subsequently declared a mistrial.

"We will just try it again," said Knoxville lawyer, Herbert S. Moncier, who
represented Jane Higgins, the plaintiff in the case.

The case grew out of the death during the early morning hours of April 14,
2000, of George W. Higgins III at his home on Ball Camp Road.

At the time Higgins had a little more than $70,000 in cash from a worker's
compensation settlement he had received the day before in a blue gym bag,
Jane Higgins testified.

She last saw the money when she left for work on the night of April 13.

When she came home seven hours later, George Higgins was dead from an
accidental drug overdose.

When rescue workers and deputies responded to her call for help, a deputy
discovered a cache of chemicals the Sheriff's Department ultimately decided
were dangerous and being used to manufacture methamphetamine.

They took control of the house and removed the chemicals in addition to
searching the home. The two sides disagree sharply over whether Jane
Higgins consented to the search.

She contends that during the search the money disappeared.

Moncier elicited testimony from the officers, and a U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration Agent, that all the chemicals were legal.

Deputy Knox County Law Director John Owings elicited testimony that
chemicals and equipment found in the house were exactly those used to
manufacture methamphetamine.

Higgins' lawsuit contends the money disappeared while the Sheriff's
Department had control of her home, and it was responsible for protecting
her property.

The county, however, argued no one knows what happened during the seven
hours George Higgins was alone or if the money was even there when deputies
arrived.