U.S. DISMISSES CHARGES VS. GENEVA FRANCE IN BOTCHED DRUG PROBE

Federal prosecutors on Monday dismissed their charges against a woman
who served 16 months in prison after being snared in a botched drug
investigation.

Prosecutors said the allegations against Geneva France, a Mansfield
mother of three, would have been impossible to prove and cited an
informant who recanted his testimony against her.

It marks the first time prosecutors tossed out a conviction in the
case that snagged 26 people and accused them of peddling cocaine and
marijuana in Mansfield. Twenty people were convicted, and four were
acquitted. One had charges dropped after spending months in jail.

France's case is a focus of a Justice Department task force that is
examining the work of Lee Lucas, the federal drug agent who handled
the case, and Lucas' informant, Jerrell Bray. The unit will meet with
more attorneys and witnesses in Cleveland this week.

Defense attorneys said the task force, headed by Assistant U.S.
Attorney Bruce Teitelbaum from Pittsburgh, also is looking at other
cases that Lucas worked.

Lucas has denied wrongdoing. Bray's attorney could not be reached.

Bray has said he lied about his testimony and said he and Lucas put
innocent people behind bars. Bray made the statements after he shot a
man in Cleveland in May. He is being held on attempted-murder and
weapons charges.

U.S. Attorney Gregory White said the dismissal of the charges was
unrelated to the Justice Department investigation.

France's attorney, Greg Robey, called the dismissal great news. It is
expected to lead to a major lawsuit filed against the government for
civil-rights violations. Others wrongfully snared in the
investigation have hired lawyers for similar lawsuits.

In May, White asked U.S. Judge Patricia Gaughan to release France
from a 10-year sentence after her conviction in February 2006. White
reviewed the evidence in the case before seeking to dismiss the charges.

Prosecutors cited the fact that Bray, the informant in the case,
changed his story about France after he was accused of attempted murder in May.

Bray and Lucas testified against France at her trial. France said
she was home with her children at the time. A federal jury didn't believe her.

She was convicted of peddling more than 50 grams of crack cocaine
within 1,000 feet of school. After Bray's statements, the FBI found a
Mansfield woman who admitted that she was in the car with Lucas and
Bray, not France. She has not been charged.