AT LEAST SEVEN CASES DISMISSED IN DRUG BUST TARGETED FOR RACIAL ABUSES

BRYAN, Texas -- A civil rights group's complaints of abuses by law
officers involved in a Hearne drug bust have resulted in dismissals
of at least seven cases.

The dismissals Monday came six days after the American Civil
Liberties Union told the U.S. Justice Department that a regional
narcotics task force violated civil rights of blacks amid the drug
bust that led to 38 arrests.

An officeholder in Robertson County who spoke on condition of
anonymity told the Bryan-College Station Eagle in Tuesday's editions
that the other 31 Hearne cases had also been dismissed.

Robertson County Judge Billy Stellbauer said he had heard that at
least 10 to 12 cases had been dismissed.

"If they have, I've lost my mind. I would definitely say they all
have not been released and they all probably won't be released,"
Stellbauer told the newspaper.

The dismissal of cases against the seven occurred at the Robertson
County District Court in Franklin.

"All my cases have been dismissed today," said Brad Wyatt, the lawyer
who represented seven of the defendants.

Two years ago, the ACLU challenged a Panhandle drug bust over alleged
civil rights violations.

Wyatt said six of his clients had been charged with delivery of a
controlled substance while another man had been accused of stealing
from an informant.

Robertson County Sheriff Gerald Yezak, who is also the South Central
Narcotics Task Force project director, said he did not know if the
other cases had been dismissed.

Will Harrell, executive director for the Texas ACLU, said Monday
night that he would be extremely pleased if all the cases were
dismissed.

"It would be the right thing to do," Harrell said. "I'm just not used
to people doing the right thing."

Attorneys for the ACLU intervened in the Hearne arrests as a result
of the agency's decision to protest the drug busts in the small
Panhandle town of Tulia, where another narcotics task force's
investigation resulted in arrests of 40 blacks in 1999 at the small
farming community.

The ACLU amended its original complaint to include the arrests in
Hearne, about 20 miles northwest of Bryan-College Station.

Harrell said earlier that the ACLU and the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People were examining complaints lodged in
six other Texas cities, where race has allegedly played a role in
recent drug busts.

The Tulia bust brought national attention and numerous questions
about the way the state's drug task forces conduct their
investigations. Many of the Tulia drug cases were based solely on the
testimony of an undercover officer who himself was charged with theft
and abuse of power during his 18-month investigation.