TASK FORCE LEADER APOLOGIZES FOR WRONGFUL ARREST

The director of the Fourth Judicial District's Drug Task Force issued
a public apology Friday to a Seymour man who was wrongly accused of a
crime, but said the man's attorney caused a delay in dismissing the
charges.

Task Force Director Mack Smith's two-and-a-half-page single-spaced
statement includes one sentence that offers a direct explanation of
how James Russell Kitts came to be misidentified as a drug dealer
during an undercover operation.

"The identification of James Kitts as the seller of the purchased
drugs was based on information garnered from various sources,
including but not limited to, Sevier County 911 records and Tennessee
motor vehicle registration records," Smith wrote. His name "was not
arbitrarily pulled out of a hat and there was certainly not an
intentional plan or design to charge an innocent man with these crimes."

The agent who erroneously identified Kitts is no longer with the task
force, Smith said. Task force officers typically are associated with
local law enforcement agencies and go back to their regular jobs after
serving with the task force.

The written statement also notes, in general terms, that undercover
agents rarely get the chance to confront defendants until after an
operation is completed and the charges are filed, which often takes
months.

Much of the statement explains how Smith came to learn that Kitts was
misidentified and how the situation was rectified. Kitts was arrested
June 25; the charges were dismissed and an order was issued June 30 to
expunge them from his record.

"On behalf of the Fourth Judicial Drug Task Force, I want to formally
apologize to Mr. Kitts for his arrest and any resulting damage caused
by it," Smith said. "It was unfortunate that he was falsely accused,
and I sincerely regret that it happened. I would have much preferred
the opportunity to apologize in person, but was prevented from doing
so by his attorney, Mr. Bryan Delius."

Smith also maintains that the dismissal could have come three days
earlier if Delius had brought Kitts in to the task force office to
meet with him and the agent who had identified Kitts.

Delius spoke of that same conversation earlier in the week, saying he
refused to take his client in for the conversation because he didn't
consider it proper procedure for identifying a suspect.

Eventually, the agent met with another defendant arrested as a result
of the same operation.

"The meeting resulted in my agent being absolutely convinced that Mr.
James Kitts had indeed been misidentified and wrongfully arrested,"
Smith said.

Smith also maintains he has communicated with Delius on the case: in a
conversation June 27 and through a letter faxed by Delius July 8
advising that he plans to file a complaint on behalf of Kitts.

Delius has said the task force was not returning his calls seeking an
explanation or an apology.