GOOD INVOKES THE FIFTH

Move spares fired deputy from testifying at Meneley trial.

A former sheriff's narcotics officer who was acquitted in June of two counts
of perjury invoked the Fifth Amendment on Tuesday, blocking him from
testifying in the perjury trial of former Sheriff Dave Meneley.

Meneley, 54, is charged with two counts of perjury stemming from his
testimony twice in 1999 that he didn't know that former Cpl. Timothy P.
Oblander was addicted to cocaine while he was a sheriff's narcotics
investigator.

Behind closed doors Tuesday and outside the presence of the Shawnee County
District Court jury, former Deputy John Frank Good, 41, claimed his Fifth
Amendment right against making self-incriminating statements. Good briefly
sat in the courtroom Tuesday afternoon before he left his attorney and
members of his family to watch the Meneley trial.

Jurors have heard Good's name during testimony and heard remarks by
attorneys and the judge questioning whether he would be available to
testify. By invoking the Fifth, Good becomes unavailable as a witness.

On Aug. 8, Good was served by the district attorney's office with a subpoena
requiring him to testify on behalf of prosecutors, and his name was
announced in court as a pending witness.

Good was acquitted June 13 of perjury linked to his testimony about whether
he knew Oblander, his former partner and best friend, had used illegal drugs
while a deputy. Sheriff Dick Barta fired Good on April 20 for perjury,
impeding an investigation and conduct unbecoming an officer, according to
records. Good had been a deputy for 15 years.

County counselor Rich Eckert said Tuesday he thought Good's pleading the
Fifth would hurt his chance to reclaim his job as a deputy. Good is in the
midst of arbitration to win back his job.

"The arbitrator will have the opportunity to review today's actions," Eckert
said. "It's a sad day when a deputy who wears the sheriff's blue -- or hopes
to -- takes the Fifth. We can't fire a guy twice. It just shows that Sheriff
Barta made the right decision."

According to the sheriff's department contract with the county, an officer
who refuses to testify in a case where he or she is the investigating
officer or who is involved in the case may be immediately fired. An officer
can't be compelled to testify against himself in a criminal case, and that
refusal to testify shall not be grounds for disciplinary action, according
to the contract.

Barta said Tuesday that Good's termination would be decided by an
arbitrator.

In other testimony, Oblander said he told then-Sheriff Meneley and others in
early 1999 not to lie on his behalf about his drug abuse.

Oblander said he and Good met Meneley; Michelle Brokaw, Meneley's campaign
manager; and Deputy Scott Baker at Brokaw's home during a night gathering
between January 1999 and Feb. 26, 1999, the date Oblander resigned.

"I wanted to tell them things were getting out of hand and I didn't want
anybody to get in trouble for me," Oblander said. "I didn't want anybody to
lie for me or get in trouble."

Under further questioning by District Attorney Joan Hamilton, Oblander
acknowledged he thought Meneley would lie for him because "he had known
about the drug abuse that I had been involved in."

On questioning by Margie J. Phelps, a defense attorney for Meneley, Oblander
said Good and Meneley simply answered, "OK" to his statement. But Oblander
admitted that as a law enforcement officer, he probably wouldn't believe
someone who told him the "don't-lie-for-me" statement in which experienced
officers responded only with "OK."

Phelps challenged whether the meeting at the Brokaw house ever happened.

"Yes, it did," Oblander answered.

Oblander told jurors he resigned on Feb. 26, 1999, "just because of the
disgrace I had caused" and after he learned his records detailing his
cocaine addiction would be made public.

Oblander said Meneley didn't question why he invoked the Fifth during the
November 1998 preliminary hearing of a defendant in a drug case. Oblander
took the Fifth because there were rumors he might be questioned about taking
the Fifth during a 1996 inquisition by the attorney general.

By the end of court on Tuesday, the trial's third witness was testifying.
Twenty-nine people have been listed as witnesses by prosecutors and defense
attorneys.