USE OF SEIZED DRUGS IN STINGS QUESTIONED

Should undercover cops be able to sell seized drugs to unsuspecting buyers
in so-called reverse sting operations? That was the underlying question
during a Superior Court hearing Thursday.

Lawyers for Jerry Thomas Gober, arrested in 1996 for buying methamphetamine
from an undercover officer, argued that the law requires the Gwinnett police
department to destroy all "contraband" in its possession except drugs to be
used as evidence in criminal cases.

That would make reverse sting operations illegal, because undercover
officers sell drugs that are no longer needed as evidence.

But Bran Parker, a senior assistant county attorney representing police
Chief Bill Dean, said reverse sting operations are a legal deterrent to the
narcotics trade. "There is simply no dispute that reverse sting operations
such as the one in dispute here are all right in Georgia law," he said.

The law says drugs must be destroyed "when no longer needed for evidentiary
purposes," but does not limit their use to one case, Parker added.

Judge Michael Clark withheld ruling Thursday on Gober's motion, which
applied only to the drugs in his case. Clark said he would give Gober's
lawyers a chance to amend their motion to include all seized drugs held in
the police department safe.

Clark said he probably will deny Gober's request to destroy the
methamphetamine he bought, but he seemed inclined to order Gwinnett police
to destroy the seized drugs in their possession. Parker, however, said that
was far from a certainty. A final hearing date has not been set.

Dean appeared briefly on the witness stand. He said the department had
marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine in its safe and that it did not keep
specific records of where it came from.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett