7 MAY FACE DEATH PENALTY

Federal Grand Jury Indicts Men In 3 Drug-Related Killings

FORT WORTH - A federal grand jury in Fort Worth returned a 37-page
indictment Tuesday that could end with the death penalty for seven North
Texas men accused of being drug traffickers linked to three slayings in the
Dallas area.

The charges come from the same 1988 federal drug-kingpin statute applied to
South Texas drug smuggler Juan Raul Garza, who was put to death early
Tuesday in Terre Haute, Ind., shortly before the Fort Worth grand jury met
in special session.

"There are elements in this indictment that make these cases eligible for
the death penalty," Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Schattman in Fort Worth.

Prosecutors have told defense attorneys that they intend to seek the death
penalty against the seven, but each case must be reviewed by the Justice
Department and approved by Attorney General John Ashcroft to proceed.

The indictment charges a total of 24 people who are accused of funneling
large amounts of marijuana and cocaine to Tarrant County and other parts of
Texas and to Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Florida and Kentucky
from Jan. 1, 1997, until Nov. 8, 2000.

Members of the ring used violence and intimidation to rob rival drug
dealers of their drugs, and in one case, killed a man after taking more
than 40 pounds of cocaine from him, the indictment said.

The indictment briefly described the killings:

Julius Omar Robinson, also known as "Scarface," and L.J. Britt, who had the
nickname "Capone," are accused of fatally shooting Johnny Lee Shelton on
Dec. 3, 1998. According to a Star-Telegram report, Shelton was shot about 3
a.m. as he and a friend drove on Central Expressway in Dallas.

Angelo Harris and Robinson are accused of gunning down Juan Reyes on May 9,
1999.

Robinson, Britt, Hendrick Ezell Tunstall, Tyrone Bryant, Christhian Morales
and Edy Sonia Zamudio are accused of killing Rudolfo Resendez July 12,
1999. Resendez was robbed of more than 40 pounds of cocaine.

Prosecutors could seek the death penalty against only these seven
defendants based on allegations of their involvement in killings that were
part of the drug-dealing business, Schattman said.

All 24 suspects charged Tuesday were arrested between November and March,
when they were initially indicted on drug charges only, along with 20 other
people, he said. Tuesday's indictment, which lists the three homicides for
the first time, replaces the earlier indictment.

The new indictment lists additional charges alleging federal firearms
violations in the possession, brandishing and firing of guns during
drug-trafficking crimes.

Robinson, depicted as a leader in the indictment, denies any involvement in
the killings or in a drug-trafficking ring, defense attorney Alex Tandy of
Fort Worth said Tuesday night.

"He says he was not involved," Tandy said. "He obviously knows some of the
other people, no question about that."

Tandy said he received a letter from federal prosecutors last week
notifying him that they intend to seek the death penalty against Robinson
if the Justice Department signs off on it.

It's an unfamiliar situation for Tandy.

"I have never been inolved in a federal death penalty case before," Tandy said.

Federal prosecutors in Fort Worth-Dallas have sought the death penalty only
once before - in the 1994 kidnapping, rape and murder of 16-year-old Lisa
Rene of Arlington.

A gang of Arkansas drug dealers, who had been cheated in a marijuana deal
with Rene's brothers, abducted, raped and buried the high school student
alive. Two men, Orlando Hall and Bruce Webster, were sentenced to die for
the crime.

Garza, 44, of Brownsville, was the first person to be executed under the
1988 federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which calls for the death penalty for
murders committed during a drug enterprise. He was convicted of killing a
man execution-style and ordering the deaths of two others.

Fort Worth defense attorney Mike Heiskell, who represents Tunstall, said he
has also been notified that his client's case has been submitted to the
Justice Department for review. Prosecutors informed him last week that
Tunstall was going to be charged in the slaying of Resendez but that he was
not accused of being the triggerman.

"The mechanics are in place for the federal death penalty," Heiskell said.

Schattman gave credit to a team effort of local and federal law enforcement
agencies, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the
Internal Revenue Service, in Texas and several other states.