WITNESS SAYS OFFICERS COACHED HIM TO TALK FAST, USE SLANG IN METH CASE

ROME, Ga. - A witness testified Thursday that investigators told an
undercover informant to talk fast and use a slang term for
methamphetamines as part of a sweeping drug sting that defense lawyers
contend unfairly targeted South Asian-owned stores.

John Edward Ross told a federal judge that a Georgia Bureau of
Investigation agent told his cousin to buy pseudoephedrine, a key
ingredient to produce meth, and tell the South Asian clerk he was
going to make a "cook."

The ACLU wants U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy to toss out the cases
against dozens of South Asian merchants indicted last year in
Operation Meth Merchant, a sting designed to send a message to
retailers knowingly selling methamphetamine-related products to drug
makers.

The group is arguing in a federal lawsuit that prosecutors and police
selectively targeted South Asians during an 18-month investigation
that aimed to curb the sale of household products used to manufacture
meth, while ignoring white-owned stores in the drug sting.

In early 2004, 15 undercover agents were sent to small grocery stores,
tobacco shops and delis in six remote northwest Georgia counties.
Prosecutors said the informants were sold products ranging from
antifreeze to pseudoephedrine even after the informants told the
clerks - sometimes using slang terms - that they planned to make meth.

The sting raised eyebrows when 44 of the 49 retail clerks and
convenience store owners indicted were South Asian, including many who
shared the last name Patel. All but one of the 24 implicated stores
were owned by South Asians, prompting critics to claim authorities are
"scapegoating" minorities.

The ACLU said previously it would offer testimony from two anonymous
witnesses that would outline the government's effort to target south
Asian merchants. Yet both backed out before they were scheduled to
testify.

Instead, defense lawyers called on Ross, who cooperated with the
government in the sting by driving his cousin to a convenience store.

Ross said he overheard the officer tell his cousin that they were
going to "close these Indian stores down because they can't speak good
English." Yet his memory did not match up with a tape prosecutors
played of the incident, and Ross admitted that earlier in the week he
had given investigators a different quote from the agent.

The sting has so far yielded 43 guilty pleas - 30 from individuals and
another 13 from corporations. Another 11 cases have been tossed,
prosecutors said.

David Nahmias, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia,
denied claims that prosecutors intentionally targeted South Asian merchants.

"The United States Attorney's Office prosecutes cases based on the
evidence and the law - not the defendant's race, ethnicity, or last
name," Nahmias said in a statement. "We believe the motion has no
factual or legal merit and we'll be filing the appropriate response as
requested by the judge."