JUDGE ACQUITS 3 IN DRUG CASE TIED TO SHORE

Prosecution Failed To Prove Defendants Conspired, Motz Says; U.S. Attorney
Disappointed; Concern Expressed Over Increasing Use Of Conspiracy Statutes

Saying he was "absolutely tortured" by the case, a federal judge has
acquitted three men accused of being Eastern Shore drug dealers, ruling the
government did not prove that they were involved in the conspiracy with
which they were charged.

Although U.S. District Chief Judge J. Frederick Motz said he was not
"suggesting prosecutorial abuse," he expressed concern about the
government's growing use of conspiracy statutes, which allow evidence that
would not be allowed in other criminal cases.

In a ruling last week described by prosecutors and defense lawyers as
unusual but not unprecedented, Motz acknowledged that the government had
presented evidence of drug dealing and possibly two separate conspiracies.

But the government did not prove its allegation of a single conspiracy, the
judge said.

The difference between what the government proved and what it charged made
the prosecution of the case inherently unfair to the defendants, he
suggested.

"It is far more important that the rule of law be upheld even if the price
of that is that three people engaged in dealing drugs go free," Motz said in
a transcript of the proceedings.

Motz's ruling came in response to a defense motion, before the two-week
trial went to the jury.

It dismayed the U.S. Attorney's office, which had won a seemingly steady
stream of major convictions involving drug conspiracies, including one this
week of members of an East Baltimore drug gang known as The Nickel Boys and
one this year of a jailhouse drug ring run by former drug lord John Edward
"Liddie" Jones.

"Are we disappointed?" said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen M.
Schenning. "Absolutely. We viewed this as a significant case.

"When we prepare these kinds of cases, these kinds of issues are foremost in
the prosecutors' minds," Schenning added. "We were confident it was a single
conspiracy. Motz didn't accept that."

Defense attorneys applauded the decision.

Howard Margulies, attorney for defendant Dehaven Jon Irby, said his client
broke down in tears when Motz announced his decision. Irby had two previous
drug felony convictions and faced a lengthy prison term if he had been
convicted of the conspiracy charge, Margulies said.

But Margulies said Irby, 30, had not been involved in drug dealing for five
years and had moved to North Carolina, where he worked for a hospital. "He
had taken a turn for the better in his life," Margulies said.

It is unclear what, if any, effect Motz's ruling might have on plea
agreements reached with prosecutors before trial of three others in the
alleged conspiracy: two on drug counts and one for felony possession of a
firearm.

Arcangelo Tuminelli, attorney for Clevon Tyrone Johnson, one of the three,
said he has begun "preliminary research" into the possible implications of
the decision.

But Tuminelli said that because Johnson, 26, had admitted in his plea
agreement to dealing with two groups, "there may be no basis for him to make
claims" to negate his plea.

The case stemmed from what government prosecutors described in court papers
as a "concerted undertaking" to develop and maintain "a massive consumer
market" for crack on the Eastern Shore, primarily Cambridge, between 1989
and last year.

In September 1997, Irby, Johnson and Emory Clash Jones, 27, were indicted
for drug distribution charges, according to court records.

The indictment was sealed pending further investigation, which concluded in
March of last year.

Two months later, Irby was arrested by federal drug agents at the Wake
County, N.C., courthouse, where he had gone for a speeding ticket, according
to a report by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent included in the court
file.

When told he had been charged with drug conspiracy, Irby replied,
"Conspiracy? I quit doing that stuff a long time ago, it's been four or five
years ago. I am too old for that stuff."

In August last year, the government's indictment added three others: Aaron
Hayman, 33, and Ramon Hobbs, 22, who were acquitted by

Motz along with Irby; and Ricky Lee Austin, 40, who pleaded guilty to the
gun charge.

"The defendants in this case were indicted together because they worked
together and were involved with one another in their illicit drug
trafficking enterprise," prosecutors said in court papers.

About a dozen cooperating witnesses, who bought or sold crack from the
defendants, testified for the government.

But defense lawyers argued that there were two separate drug rings with some
people in common, including Johnson: one involving Irby that ended in the
mid-1990s, and a second involving Hayman, Hobbs and Austin that began in
1996.

The problem is that since the case was tried as a single conspiracy, jurors
heard testimony and evidence involving one group that had nothing to do with
the other, the lawyers said.

"There has to be some meaningful connection between the people involved,"
said Harvey Greenberg, who represented Hobbs.

Motz agreed. Although his office said he does not discuss cases in which he
is involved, the transcript of the trial's final day demonstrates the degree
of his concern.

"I don't see any center whatsoever in this case," he said. "There has to be
some kind of coherence or there is absolutely no limit on conspiracy law."

Motz said he understood why the government takes a "expansive view" of
conspiracy law, saying it was a "powerful tool" that gave prosecutors great
leverage in plea bargains and allowed introduction at trial of
co-conspirator statements and corroborating evidence.

"There comes a point where I have a job to do, and I have done it," Motz
said, after granting the defense motion for acquittal. "The case is over."