SUIT OVER DRUG STINGS SETTLED, ACLU SAYS

9 Plaintiffs Agree To Drop Claims That Robertson County Arrests Violated
Their Civil Rights

Nine people who said they were unfairly arrested in drug stings have
settled a civil rights lawsuit against Robertson County, the American Civil
Liberties Union announced.

The settlement still must be approved by U.S. District Judge Walter S.
Smith, who ordered the litigants into mediation. A trial had been set for
May 23.

"We are absolutely satisfied with the agreed resolution," said Bryan Russ,
a private attorney who represented the county. "We're glad to have it
behind us so we can move on."

'Time to move forward'The ACLU filed the lawsuit in 2002 on behalf of some
of the people charged with selling cocaine to a police informant in 2000.
They said the arrests were based on bogus evidence from an unreliable
informant and were racially motivated, perpetuating a pattern of
discrimination by local law enforcement.

All but one of the 28 suspects were black. The charges were later dropped.

Graham Boyd, director of the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project, said he was
pleased with the settlement.

Russ and Boyd said the Commissioners Court in that Central Texas county
approved the settlement this week.

The plaintiffs agreed to drop their claims against several officials,
including District Attorney John Paschall. Judge Smith granted summary
judgment to Limestone County, which also had been named in the lawsuit.

Nine-Month Probe

According to the lawsuit, the arrests were part of a nine-month
investigation. Members of the South Central Texas Regional Narcotics Task
Force offered leniency to Derrick Megress, who was in jail on a burglary
charge, if he would help catch suspected drug dealers, the lawsuit stated.

Megress was outfitted with a tape recorder and cash to make drug purchases
from about 20 people, the lawsuit alleged. It said officers also gave him
crack cocaine and told him to mix it with baking soda or flour and say he
had bought it from the targeted people.

The plaintiffs said Megress was not closely monitored and could falsify
evidence.

Some of those arrested had verifiable alibis for the time Megress said he
bought drugs from them, the plaintiffs said. Even so, they said, Paschall,
who headed the task force, and the officers did not investigate the drug
buys to corroborate Megress' claims.

Douglas Becker, an attorney for Paschall, Robertson County and four others
named in the lawsuit, said questions about the arrests surfaced when the
trial of Corvian Workman ended in a hung jury and Paschall found the
evidence was tainted.

The charges against Workman and some others were dismissed in April 2001.
Eight defendants pleaded guilty, according to records. One was sentenced to
eight years in prison and seven others received probation.