UNUSUAL TACK IN DRUG WAR

Feds Are To Use A Commerce Law In Prosecuting Case Against Four Here

A federal case against four Rochester men accused of robbing drug dealers
may reveal whether federal commerce laws can be used to combat drug-related
violence.

In an unusual local prosecution, federal authorities accuse the four --
Damien Lott, Terrance Stinson, Anthony Murphy and Shawn Rucker -- of robbing
local cocaine and heroin dealers of money and drugs.

The four defendants, all in jail awaiting trial, are accused of violating a
federal statute called the Hobbs Act, which prohibits crimes of robbery or
extortion that impede interstate or foreign commerce.

Since many illegal drugs originate outside the United States, federal courts
have held that drug trafficking qualifies as interstate commerce -- albeit
illegal commerce -- and that drug-related robberies can stand as Hobbs Act
violations.

"I have not seen much in the way of Hobbs Act indictments here in our
district," said Federal Public Defender William Clauss.

This criminal case lent itself to the specific charges, said U.S. Attorney
Michael Battle. That doesn't necessarily mean that federal prosecutors want
a new weapon to fight drug-related violence, he noted.

But local police hope that the federal prosecution can curb what they say is
drug dealers' alarming willingness to rob drug houses.

Oftentimes, said Police Chief Robert Duffy, police learn of the crimes only
if violence is involved.

"Those who perpetrate these crimes often have a sense that their victims
will not want to call the police," Duffy said.

Nearly a quarter of recent homicides were committed during the robbery of
drug dealers, said John Klofas, a criminal justice professor at Rochester
Institute of Technology who has worked with Rochester police to study local
homicides.

David Kennedy, a senior criminal justice researcher at Harvard's Kennedy
School of Government, said Rochester has a high level of drug house
robberies.

Kennedy, who is working with Rochester officials on anti-crime initiatives,
said dealers sometimes strike at drug houses for the drugs as much as for
the money.

Interviews with those who've robbed drug houses revealed that "if there was
a drought in their web of connection they'd go do a robbery," Kennedy said.
"They looked at it as an alternative source of supply."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Sherman, who is prosecuting the federal case
in Rochester, said he could not discuss the allegations against the four
defendants.

And the indictment does not spell out the specifics of the allegations,
other than to claim that the crimes were committed between September 1997
and February 2001.

Others are accused with the four of drug possession crimes. But only the
four men face the robbery-related charges.

Defense lawyers for the accused say federal authorities are simply
overreaching, and have no case.

"Mr. Stinson is innocent of what they've accused him of," said Phillip
Hurwitz, who represents Stinson.

James Wolford, the attorney for Murphy, said he was on the eve of a federal
drug-related trial for Murphy when the robbery-connected indictment was
released.

Federal authorities "knew they didn't have a strong case against Murphy so
they went ahead and reindicted him," Wolford said.

Murphy also faces state criminal charges in which prosecutors allege he shot
a drug dealer in the arm during a drug transaction.

In a federal detention hearing last year, prosecutors alleged that Murphy
has dodged prosecution for a number of violent acts.

"We have a person here that, according to his criminal history, has been
very fortuitous in terms of number of violent charges being dismissed and a
pattern of witnesses either being reluctant to come in and testify or
witnesses refusing to show up and testify against him," Assistant U.S.
Attorney Bret Puscheck said at the hearing.

A former friend of Murphy's alleged that he "asked her to help scout drug
locations for possible robberies," Puscheck also said.

One witness also told prosecutors that Murphy had found a way to escape from
an ankle monitoring-system placed on him while on parole.

"She witnessed him put his ankle in ice water and watched him remove the
ankle bracelet," Puscheck said.

Murphy had a relative who suffers from Alzheimer's wear the ankle bracelet
"when he was out doing robberies," the witness said.

Lott and Stinson have been accused before of drug-related violence.

On New Year's Day 1994, drug dealer Shawn Battle was dragged from his home,
bound, gagged and shot in the face and shoulder.

Battle survived and fingered five men as his assailants, including Lott and
Stinson, according to prosecutors.

But, months later, Battle, a central figure in a then-prominent cocaine
ring, changed his mind and refused to testify. Prosecutors said at the time
that Battle was fearful for his life.

Prosecutors decided they had no case and a judge dismissed the
shooting-related charges against Lott, Stinson and the other three
defendants.