TBI PROBING DESTRUCTION OF DRUG EVIDENCE

An assistant Robertson County prosecutor said he used bad judgment
when he destroyed an ounce of marijuana that had been evidence in a
trial, contrary to usual procedure.

A TBI investigation was ordered after a routine audit earlier this
month at the Springfield Police Department brought the matter to
light, District Attorney General John Carney said.

Dent Morriss, who has prosecuted in Robertson County since 1988, said
he used bad judgment last April when he burned the marijuana in a
brush fire at his lake home in Kentucky.

According to Carney, Springfield Police Chief Mike Wilhoit initially
notified the TBI.

When Carney learned of the incident from the TBI, he asked for a full
investigation and called for a special prosecutor to take the case.

Bill Whitsell of Rutherford County has been named as special
prosecutor.

He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

TBI spokeswoman Jeanne Broadwell confirmed a probe is ongoing but
could not say when it might be completed.

Following a trial in which a defendant was found not guilty, Morriss
said, he took the marijuana from the Circuit Court clerk because the
officer involved in the case had left the courthouse.

In retrospect, Carney said, Morriss knows he should not have taken the
marijuana with him.

"What he should have done was left the evidence with the clerk until
the next day, when a judge could have ordered it to be destroyed,"
Carney said.

Morriss was continuing to do his job yesterday, handling a 15-page
docket in Robertson County Circuit Court.

Carney said he had unequivocal faith in his assistant's
integrity.

"Investigators have conducted spot checks of different drug cases and
found no pattern of this happening before," Carney said.

"I have known Dent Morriss for a long time. I trust and believe what
he says."

Carney said he has given Morriss a stern oral reprimand.

Carney has not heard from the TBI or Whitsell, whose responsibility it
is to determine whether a crime was committed.