MAN CONVICTED OF MURDERING DEA INFORMANT

A federal jury yesterday convicted a man accused of killing a Drug
Enforcement Administration informant two years ago on behalf of a
Tucson drug dealer.

Michael Waggoner, 37, was found guilty of murder, conspiracy to commit
murder and tampering with a witness. He faces the possibility of life
in prison when U.S. District Judge John M. Roll sentences him on April
21.

Prosecutor Sean Chapman maintained during the trial that Waggoner
opened fire on Alzinnia Keyes on March 12, 1998, to keep her from
testifying against Terile Williams.

Waggoner's defense attorney, Richard Lougee, said prosecutors had the
wrong Williams. He told jurors when trial started Feb. 8 that Anthony
Williams, a Los Angeles-based cocaine dealer unrelated to Terile,
ordered the hit.

Neither Chapman nor Lougee could be reached for comment late
yesterday.

The jury's decision pleased Jim Molesa, the DEA's special agent for
public information in Phoenix. ``We're glad with the verdict. We hope
it brings some closure to Ms. Keyes' family, and we'll wait to see how
the sentencing phase turns out,'' he said.

Since Keyes' murder, both Terile Williams and Anthony Williams have
been convicted of drug crimes, partially on the strength of
information Keyes provided. Both are in prison.

Keyes also served three years in prison before she was arrested by
South Tucson police in January 1998 and agreed to inform on others for
the DEA. She ordered cocaine from Terile Williams and Anthony Williams
that month under the agency's monitoring.

Keyes was killed two months later. Prosecutors allege Waggoner fired
the fatal shots as Keyes walked in a neighborhood about a mile north
of Kino Sports Park.

The prosecutor told jurors that a mortally wounded Keyes told a Tucson
Fire Department paramedic to tell the DEA ``that Terile's people did
it.''

Terile Williams faces similar charges in an upcoming trial.