MAN CONVICTED IN DRUG CASE; UNDERCOVER AGENT CHALLENGED

ST. FRANCISVILLE -- A West Feliciana Parish jury voted 10-2 Monday to
convict a local man on drug distribution charges despite a defense effort
to further undermine an undercover agent's credibility.

Twentieth Judicial District Judge George H. Ware Jr. set sentencing July 13
for Edward D. Davis, 29, of St. Francisville, who was convicted on two
counts of distribution of cocaine.

Davis was indicted in October 1998 in connection with an undercover
investigation by the Delta Drug Task Force, a four-agency group that
includes the West Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Bill Daniel said Davis eluded arrest until January when he was
arrested in Baton Rouge on an unrelated drug charge.

The task force hired Elie Trunell Jr., of Lorman, Miss., to purchase drugs
from local dealers during the investigation, which resulted in indictments
against 48 people.

Trunell was paid $50 for every successful purchase of drugs, according to
testimony Monday.

District Attorney Charles Shropshire and Assistant District Attorney
Richard Howell said Trunell had been instrumental in getting convictions in
all but one of the cases brought to court, despite testimony in trials that
Trunell is not a commissioned police officer and has been convicted in
Mississippi of first-degree murder and burglary.

Defense attorney Clay Calhoun attempted to weaken Trunell's credentials
Monday by first getting the witness to testify that he had no other
convictions on his record.

Reading from Jefferson County, Miss., court records, Calhoun began
questioning Trunell about his misdemeanor convictions for stalking his
daughter, disturbing the peace by threatening and cursing his daughter in
the same incident and issuing a worthless check to the county tax assessor.

"I have no knowledge of that, sir," Trunell replied to each of Calhoun's
questions about the cases heard in a Fayette, Miss., court.

Prosecutors said they were unaware of the misdemeanor convictions, but
Howell argued in closing remarks that Trunell had never waivered in his
identification of Davis as the man who supplied crack cocaine to the
undercover agent.

Although the questioning of Trunell did not involve details of his murder
conviction, he told the jury the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered a new
trial in the case and he "cut a deal" with the district attorney in October
1986 for a suspended sentence.

Calhoun attempted unsuccessfully to question Trunell about whether he "cut
a deal" to avoid prosecution for "grand larceny of a Lincoln Continental"
in Natchez, Miss.

Trunell testified that he stopped at a house on Robert Bailey Road in the
Solitude community on July 19, 1998, and asked a man who approached if he
could buy "a twenty," meaning $20 worth of crack cocaine.

He said the man took his $20 bill, took it to Davis and returned to the car
with a "rock" of crack cocaine.

Trunell said he returned several minutes later and bought another rock.

Trunell acknowledged he suffered from epilepsy and takes medication to
prevent seizures, but he denied the medicine impaired his ability to
identify the people who sold him drugs.