News (Media Awareness Project) - US NC: 112 Criminal Charges Dropped Due To Tainted Evidence |
| Title: | US NC: 112 Criminal Charges Dropped Due To Tainted Evidence |
| Published On: | 1999-11-21 |
| Source: | Fayetteville Observer-Times (NC) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-28 23:09:17 |
112 CRIMINAL CHARGES DROPPED DUE TO TAINTED EVIDENCE
CLINTON -- Prosecutors have dismissed 112 criminal charges against 90
people because of problems in the Sampson County Interagency Drug
Enforcement Unit, Senior Assistant District Attorney Greg Butler said
Saturday.
The Sheriffs Department and State Bureau of Investigation are
investigating the drug unit.
One agent, Paul Bryan Howell, was arrested Oct. 14 and charged with
trafficking in marijuana and theft of evidence from the locker room at the
drug unit. Sheriff Buck McCullen fired him.
The following day, Sgt. Bobby William Herring and agents Chadwick Lee
Campbell and Donald Ray Potter resigned. None has been charged with any crime.
Prosecution Hindered
The District Attorneys Office, after consulting with the sheriff and SBI,
decided that ??the integrity of the evidence in the evidence locker of the
Sampson County Drug Enforcement Unit was compromised to the extent that
effective prosecution of the cases involved is not possible, Butler said
in a prepared statement. Likewise, with the resignation of three officers
and the dismissal of Paul Howell, the prosecution of those cases for which
those officers were responsible is severely limited.
Therefore, the District Attorneys Office, along with the Sampson County
sheriff and the SBI, have concluded that the best course of action is not
to proceed with those cases for which the integrity of the evidence has
been compromised and/or the officers involved are no longer available to
testify.
Many of the charges dismissed involved drugs and were felonies.
Thirty-eight of the 90 people whose cases were affected were charged with
felonies.
McCullen and District Attorney Dewey Hudson Jr. asked the SBI to investigate.
SBI agents said in an Oct. 13 search warrant that their investigation
indicated Howell had been supplying marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine and
methamphetamine, taken from the drug units evidence room.
The warrant said the missing drug evidence had been replaced in resealed
containers with non-drugs and returned to the evidence room. The warrant
said false receipts were used to cover shortages of money.
McCullen said the Sheriffs Departments detective division is handling
drug investigations for the department, though the drug unit is not
abolished.
CLINTON -- Prosecutors have dismissed 112 criminal charges against 90
people because of problems in the Sampson County Interagency Drug
Enforcement Unit, Senior Assistant District Attorney Greg Butler said
Saturday.
The Sheriffs Department and State Bureau of Investigation are
investigating the drug unit.
One agent, Paul Bryan Howell, was arrested Oct. 14 and charged with
trafficking in marijuana and theft of evidence from the locker room at the
drug unit. Sheriff Buck McCullen fired him.
The following day, Sgt. Bobby William Herring and agents Chadwick Lee
Campbell and Donald Ray Potter resigned. None has been charged with any crime.
Prosecution Hindered
The District Attorneys Office, after consulting with the sheriff and SBI,
decided that ??the integrity of the evidence in the evidence locker of the
Sampson County Drug Enforcement Unit was compromised to the extent that
effective prosecution of the cases involved is not possible, Butler said
in a prepared statement. Likewise, with the resignation of three officers
and the dismissal of Paul Howell, the prosecution of those cases for which
those officers were responsible is severely limited.
Therefore, the District Attorneys Office, along with the Sampson County
sheriff and the SBI, have concluded that the best course of action is not
to proceed with those cases for which the integrity of the evidence has
been compromised and/or the officers involved are no longer available to
testify.
Many of the charges dismissed involved drugs and were felonies.
Thirty-eight of the 90 people whose cases were affected were charged with
felonies.
McCullen and District Attorney Dewey Hudson Jr. asked the SBI to investigate.
SBI agents said in an Oct. 13 search warrant that their investigation
indicated Howell had been supplying marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine and
methamphetamine, taken from the drug units evidence room.
The warrant said the missing drug evidence had been replaced in resealed
containers with non-drugs and returned to the evidence room. The warrant
said false receipts were used to cover shortages of money.
McCullen said the Sheriffs Departments detective division is handling
drug investigations for the department, though the drug unit is not
abolished.
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