JUDGE REVISITS 'METH MERCHANT' CASE

ACLU Lawyers Call a Man to Testify to Racial Bias After Two John Does
Backed Out Earlier in the Week

After hearing testimony Thursday morning from a cousin of one of the
government informants used in "Operation Meth Merchant," U.S. District
Judge Harold L. Murphy said he wants to see more on paper before
deciding whether charges against defendants implicated in the
investigation should be dropped.

Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union allege racially biased
prosecution in the "Meth Merchant" investigation, which resulted in
the arrests last summer of 49 Northwest Georgia convenience store
owners and operators on charges they knowingly sold ingredients used
to make methamphetamines.

The ACLU had originally wanted to put two anonymous informants on the
witness stand to testify that law enforcement specifically targeted
stores owned by South Asians, but both of their John Does had decided
to plead the Fifth Amendment by the time a hearing was held Monday.

Instead, the defense called a witness Thursday they said could testify
to essentially the same information: John Edward Ross of Chickamauga.
Ross says he drove his cousin, whom he revealed during the hearing as
John A. Ross Jr., to a controlled buy at Famous Market and Tobacco in
Flintstone in March 2004.

According to John Edward Ross, a special agent with the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation told his cousin just before the buy that authorities
were "going to close these Indian stores down because they don't
speak good English." To talk fast and use slang during the purchase
were part of the instructions, Ross said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Tarvin played a recording of the
conversation between the agent and informant for Ross, noting there
were no such words exchanged on the tape. Ross replied that the
remarks were made before the recording device was turned on.

Tarvin called into question Ross' recollection of the order of
events, asked him about a statement he had made indicating "the
system" had mistreated him and introduced evidence showing he had been
convicted of burglary and deposit account fraud.

She asked Murphy to throw out affidavits provided by the two
informants who did not testify, but the judge said he would allow the
issue to be argued in briefs before making a final ruling. The
affidavits, which include statements alleging that law enforcement
ignored information about white-owned stores and specifically
instructed informants to go to South Asian-owned stores, were filed in
April in support of the ACLU's motion to dismiss charges.

Murphy has already denied a separate motion for dismissal but
indicated during Thursday's hearing that he agreed to revisit the
issue in an abundance of caution.

ACLU attorneys did not make any statements at the conclusion of the
hearing, but U.S. Attorney David Nahmias relayed through a spokesman
his belief that "the motion has no factual or legal merit," adding,
"We will be filing the appropriate response as requested by the judge."

There are few "Meth Merchant" cases still pending before the court, as
according to records at least 10 have been dismissed and an additional
30 individuals have resolved their cases through plea agreements.