BARBER: IRONDALE SHOULD HAVE TOLD DA OF DRUG CASE

Irondale police should have brought a drug trafficking investigation
involving a city councilman's son before the district attorney's
office for review before deciding to forgo arresting him or charging
him with a crime, said Jefferson County District Attorney David Barber.

Barber said Monday that he has referred the drug case involving
Matthew Chandler Jackson, son of Irondale City Councilman Ray Jackson,
to a grand jury. The grand jury is expected to hear the matter the
week of Aug. 4.

Barber has been investigating for the last two weeks whether Irondale
police handled the investigation properly.

Police said they caught Jackson on April 28 with several gallon-size
containers of marijuana in his car and listed the incident as felony
marijuana trafficking. Jackson was not arrested or charged with a
crime following the incident.

He was awaiting trial on two armed robbery charges and has since been
convicted. Jackson is now serving three years of a 20-year-sentence at
St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville for two March 2002
armed robberies.

Acting Police Chief Norman Stapp has said Jackson was not arrested or
charged with a crime because he cooperated with investigators and lead
them to Mario Bustos, a man believed to be a significant drug dealer.
Bustos has been arrested and is awaiting an appearance before a
federal grand jury.

Efforts to reach Stapp for comment Monday were unsuccessful.

Barber said his office should have been involved in deciding if
charges would be filed since the case involved a large amount of
marijuana and a possible charge for trafficking, Barber said.

"There is no law saying that police have to report everything to the
district attorney," Barber said. "But in my opinion, they should have
presented this case to us."

"Technically, (the police department) missed one step," said Irondale
Mayor A. Allen Ramsey.

Ramsey, who requested Barber review the case after someone leaked the
incident report to radio host Dee Fine, said he believes that the
police department was justified in not charging Jackson because he
cooperated with investigators. He noted that the department has one
year to file charges against Jackson, if it chooses to do so.

Meanwhile, the Irondale City Council will discuss today hiring an
outside investigator to determine who at City Hall leaked the police
report. The meeting is at 7 p.m. in City Hall.

Ramsey charged the city's Public Safety Committee to head an internal
investigation, but council members Jack Boone and Simpson Berry want
an investigator to head the probe.

Ramsey said the investigation lead by the Public Safety Committee
would continue whether the council decided to hire the investigator or
not.