UNARMED SHERIFF REMAINS ON THE JOB

Federal Drug Case Against Official In Pearsall Notable For Its
Inactivity

PEARSALL -- The sheriff here is forbidden to carry a gun and at the
Golden Fried Chicken, where coffee costs 40 cents and talk is even
cheaper, regulars sometimes wonder if he should be locked in the jail
he oversees.

Yet apart from gossip and the holster missing from his hip, there are
few reminders that a year ago, FBI agents accused Frio County Sheriff
Carl Burris of stealing cash and selling marijuana that had been
seized from smugglers and stored at his office.

Burris is not allowed to handle firearms while he remains free on
bond. But, innocent until proven otherwise, the hulking, affable
52-year-old sheriff is still on the job. He has a year left in office,
and he said he would seek a third term. What little he would say about
the case is cryptic, yet optimistic.

"Things are working themselves out," he said. "I think they're talking
about dropping everything."

Frio County, some 40 miles southwest of San Antonio, is a sparsely
populated rectangle of brush and farmland. Its larger towns cling to
Interstate 35, the asphalt corridor that carries away peanut harvests
and, by many accounts, ushers in more than the county's share of drug
trafficking.

Burris was charged with trying to sell 62 pounds of marijuana in an
attempt to replace $11,726 of seized drug profits that a former deputy
alleges the sheriff pocketed.

In the end, residents, from county leaders to patrons at the Paraiso
bar, are perplexed by the seeming inaction of federal authorities, who
accused the sheriff of being crooked and then fell silent.

"They took his gun away from him. That's it," said one resident, who
like many others insisted on anonymity, saying he feared retribution
in this county of some 16,000 people.

"We're still just hanging in limbo," said another resident. "I really
feel like we've been dumped on."

The thin case file at the federal courthouse in San Antonio reveals
little. As of last week, it held orders granting Burris permission to
travel but held nothing of substance beyond the initial
allegations.

Federal authorities, however, insist the case has neither fallen apart
nor been forgotten. But citing rules that forbid them from discussing
cases still open, they neither confirm nor deny that a dismissal is in
the works.

Richard Durbin, chief of the criminal division for the U.S. attorney's
office in San Antonio, said the case remains active.

But legal experts say the case appears to have followed a bizarre
pace.

After two years of slow investigation, authorities lurched forward
Dec. 8, 1998, with the sudden arrest of the sheriff. In order to hold
and charge him, they filed a criminal complaint instead of seeking a
grand jury indictment, a legal shortcut often viewed as a sign of urgency.

Don Kidd, a former FBI special agent, said he was "amazed" that the
authorities would arrest an elected official without first obtaining
the indictment needed to bring him to trial.

Normally, investigators line "all their ducks in a row" before they
act, especially in corruption cases that receive intense scrutiny
within the Justice Department, said Kidd, now with the University of
Arkansas-affiliated Criminal Justice Institute.

The Burris complaint enabled the authorities to march the shackled
sheriff past camera crews and into court, where a federal magistrate
informed him of the allegations. He was then held overnight.

The case appeared to come to a standstill after the arrest. If Burris
has been indicted, prosecutors have kept it under wraps.

"There's been nothing -- no developments at all," said Alfredo
Villarreal, the federal public defender representing Burris.

Burris is hardly impatient.

Shortly after being released, he waived his right to a speedy trial,
an unusual move that lifted legal requirements that he be indicted
within 30 days of his arrest.

On the phone, Burris sounds relaxed for a man threatened with charges
that carry up to 15 years in prison and could end a 20-year career in
law enforcement.

His easygoing tone is perhaps a reminder that the former Olmos Park
police officer has been exonerated before.

In 1994, after a short trial, a state judge acquitted Burris of
charges that he and a Frio County constable solicited a bribe by
tearing up a traffic ticket in exchange for a shotgun and
semiautomatic assault rifle.

But this time, Burris faces incriminating videotapes and wire
recordings, according to an affidavit by an FBI agent.

The detailed affidavit alleges that Burris, who earns $32,030 a year,
first pocketed $11,726 seized from smugglers. And later, when
investigators asked about the money, the sheriff tried selling a
bundle of seized marijuana, the proceeds of which he intended to use
to replace the apparently missing evidence.

As described in the federal affidavit, the case appears a classic case
of "gotcha."

But skepticism grows as, month after month, Burris remains in his
office, beyond the trophy case of brass knuckles, switchblades and
other jailhouse contraband that greets visitors to the Sheriff's Department.

"Ordinarily, when you have a good case you go forward with it," said
Jay Sorrell, a Pearsall attorney who backed Burris in his previous
campaigns and remains a supporter, although he has since moved from
the county.

To legal experts, delays in criminal cases usually reflect one of two
possibilities: weak evidence or both sides working on some sort of
deal.

The sheriff's supporters scoff at the suggestion Burris would brazenly
pilfer from his office safe roughly one month after he was cleared of
bribery charges.

"To me, it was a setup," said Ken Grand, a former columnist for the
locally published and now defunct South Texas News. "Carl's not going
to jeopardize his career by taking money out to go on vacation. That's
ridiculous."

Burris bristles at any suggestion he is providing information to the
federal investigators or even preparing a plea bargain.

"I'm not cutting any deals, OK?" he said.