JURY DEMANDS $268.7 MILLION IN DAMAGES FROM DRUG DEALER

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- A jury Thursday night awarded $268.7 million in the
first test of a state law allowing drug dealers to be held liable for damages.

Both sides acknowledged that the defendant, Wayne Clarence Johnson, has
little money, but attorneys for Jean Muhs asked the jury to send a message
that people must be responsible for their actions.

Muhs, 71, was severely injured in a 1998 traffic accident near Canton that
killed her husband, Floyd Muhs.

Her lawsuit says Johnson provided methamphetamine that the other driver,
Daniel Bolls, used shortly before the accident. Bolls veered into the
opposite lane and struck a van driven by Jean Muhs.

Johnson has not been charged. He was on the witness stand only briefly
after the judge raised the issue of whether his testimony could be
self-incriminating.

The jury awarded Muhs $6.6 million for her medical expenses, nursing home
care, pain, suffering and other losses; $12 million to the Floyd Muhs
estate for similar losses and $250 million in punitive damages.

Defense attorney Dan Lias called no witnesses.

"They did a good job of presenting their case and obviously my client will
not be pleased with the outcome," Lias said. "We'll be reviewing our options."

They include asking the judge to modify the judgment or filing an appeal,
he said.

It is the first time the state's drug dealer liability law has been used,
and most attorneys don't know it exists, Muhs' attorney, Mark Meierhenry,
told the jury in closing arguments.

"This is a new concept in the war on drugs," he said.

In his closing argument, Lias asked the jury to put aside emotion and to be
fair and reasonable.

Muhs testified that she doesn't expect to collect any money.

"He has no money. I'm sure he doesn't unless he hits the lottery," she
said. "But someone has to be responsible, someone has to be."

Bolls is charged with manslaughter and vehicular homicide for the accident,
but he disappeared before trial and is a fugitive. A passenger in his car,
Carrie Walker, was convicted of manslaughter and vehicular battery and was
sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Walker and Bolls were romantically involved and were fighting over the
steering wheel when Bolls jerked it into the path of the Muhs' vehicle,
another Muhs' attorney, Clint Sargent, told the jury.

Walker said in a deposition that Johnson gave her a packet of
methamphetamine and she turned it over to Bolls, who injected it in his arm
on the day of the accident.

Sgt. Curtis Blasy of the Highway Patrol said blood and urine tests on Bolls
and Walker showed both had methamphetamine in their systems.