MAN IN SHOOTOUT WITH OFFICER FREED FROM LIFE SENTENCE

Charges Dropped Over Sinclair Role

Theodis Hagans' life prison sentence for shooting at Jacksonville police
officer Aric Sinclair was dropped yesterday because prosecutors think
Sinclair, now indicted in a federal probe of murder, robbery and drug
selling, may have been acting as an enraged drug dealer and not a pursuing
officer in the shootout.

Hagans said he is pleased with the action, though he remains bitter that he
is headed back to prison to serve out an eight-year sentence for hitting a
courtroom bailiff in 1999. That attack occurred after a jury found Hagans
guilty in the 1998 shootout.

"It feels wonderful to have a life sentence taken off of me. I never
thought in a million years it would actually go down like this," Hagans,
25, told the Times-Union after a brief court hearing. "Had I not been
wrongly convicted for this, I wouldn't have done what I did to catch that
[eight-year] sentence."

During the interview, Hagans said he sold crack cocaine for Sinclair and
then broke off on his own, only to be threatened and shot at by the police
officer.

Circuit Judge Lance Day agreed yesterday to set aside Hagans' conviction
and grant a new trial after prosecutor Angela Corey said she had developed
new evidence that indicated Sinclair may have lied about his reasons for
chasing after Hagans. After the new trial was granted, Corey then dropped
the case.

"Under our constitution, the scales of justice are balanced in favor of the
accused's presumption of innocence," Day wrote in an order granting the
motion for a new trial. "No accused should stand convicted where this
presumption has been compromised by what is now reasonably perceived as
tainted and perjured testimony."

At issue was Hagans' conviction of attempted second-degree murder of a law
enforcement officer and a jury's finding that Sinclair was "engaged in the
lawful execution of his duty." Sinclair testified he was after Hagans for
questioning in a murder and shooting when they met up on an Eastside street
on March 5, 1998.

But Hagans has claimed since his arrest that Sinclair chased him because he
had become a competing drug dealer. He also said Sinclair was angry because
he heard that one of his dealers was robbed of drugs by Hagans.

Sinclair, set to go on trial in October, is in isolation at the Duval
County jail and couldn't be reached to comment yesterday. One of his
attorneys, Mark Rosenblum, questioned Hagans' motives for attacking Sinclair.

"As far as I know, there is no independent corroboration of what Hagans is
saying," Rosenblum said. "That's his story and he's sticking to it. But,
basically, it's very easy for him to come back now and take advantage of
the fact that Aric Sinclair has been indicted and is facing these serious
charges, and to use this situation for his own benefit."

Hagans, who did not testify at his trial, said yesterday he began selling
crack cocaine for Sinclair, a childhood friend, a week after getting out of
prison in December 1997 on a robbery conviction. He said that's when he
learned Sinclair had set up his own network of drug dealers in their
Eastside neighborhood. Hagans, never arrested for a drug offense, said he
sold up to 2 ounces of crack cocaine a day for Sinclair before branching
out on his own three months later.

"I wanted to be a part of that," Hagans said of Sinclair's network. "I felt
like I could always stay ahead of other police officers if I got a police
officer on my team. He could always keep me ahead of when the busts were
going to come. As long as I played by the rules he cited, I would never get
busted and I would always keep my money and I would always have drugs."

Once he broke away from Sinclair, Hagans said he and the police officer had
some disagreements over turf. He said he remembers Sinclair threatening him
with a gun over who was selling drugs where. Hagans said he never ripped
off Sinclair, but still fears retribution from him for various reasons.

"Aric Sinclair was a mean dude," Hagans said. "Just because he's locked up
doesn't mean he still doesn't have power."

Hagans' attorneys said they attempted to warn prosecutors about the
Sinclair-Hagans drug connection after Hagans was arrested, but there was no
corroborating evidence and prosecutors had no reason to suspect Sinclair.
Hagans said yesterday that had someone investigated Sinclair, crimes
alleged in the federal indictment, such as the 1998 robbery and slaying of
convenience store owner Sami Safar, could have been prevented.

"I was crying out to them, letting them know this dude was crooked," Hagans
said. "Had anybody paid attention ... maybe Mr. Sami Safar would still be
living."

Fortune shined on Hagans when Sinclair and three other officers were named
in the indictment in December and Hagans' attorney, Mark Miller, began
pushing for a new trial for his client. Corey, who helped convict Hagans,
agreed to reopen the case and concluded that Sinclair's damaged
credibility, a lack of an independent witness to the shootout and the
believability of Hagans' story would likely have led a jury to find Hagans
not guilty.

"The state acknowledges, and does not dispute, that the evidence now in its
possession creates a well-founded, reasonable doubt as to whether ... Aric
Sinclair was acting solely in his capacity as a police officer or was
himself engaged in unlawful activity under the cloak of his position as a
police officer," Judge Day wrote.

The case is the second challenge to a prison sentence involving Sinclair
and allegations that those he was involved in arresting were victims of his
drug-dealing. A public defender is fighting to get a new trial for Darryl
Arnold, a convicted drug dealer who claims Sinclair set him up during a
drug sting in 1998.