POLICE REPORT ON SAM BROWN'S IN-CUSTODY DEATH REVEALS CO-CONSPIRATOR

A report released last week by Spokane Police has detailed the last
hours of 24-year-old Revelstoke resident Samuel Brown, who died while
in a Spokane jail after he was caught flying marijuana into northern
Washington. The report confirmed many of the details released by
police in the month following Brown's Feb. 27 death.

According to the report, Brown had been held in the Spokane County
Jail for three days before his death. Brown, the report notes, had
been booked into the jail "...on a U.S. Marshal hold for distribution
of Marijuana." At this time, prison intake documents note that Brown
"did not appear suicidal to the intake Deputy ... and that [Brown]
answered 'no' to the relevant questions about being suicidal or
planning to harm himself."

The report revealed the existence of an individual named Leonard J.
Johnson, who is referred to as a "co-conspirator" in the case.
Johnson, the report notes, was specifically separated from Brown
"...because they were co-conspirators in the same on going crime."

Previous releases-including RCMP and DEA press releases detailing
those arrested in 'Operation Blade Runner', the operation which
netted Sam Brown-make no mention of a Leonard J. Johnson, nor do they
mention any individuals arrested at the same time as Brown. Calls to
the Spokane Police Department to further identify Johnson were not returned.

As for Brown's death, dozens of reports from jail staff confirm that
Brown was found hanged to death in his cell at 1:15 p.m. on Feb.
27th. The 24-year-old was pronounced dead by paramedics half an hour later.

After Brown's death, investigators treated the jail cell as a crime
scene, carefully cataloguing the cell and its contents. Investigators
did not, the report indicates, find anything resembling a suicide note.

Investigators from the Spokane County Sheriff's Office also reviewed
calls made by inmates from the sections in which Brown was held. An
investigator noted: "I found many conversations but I found none that
I could identify as belonging to [Brown] and none that discussed
suicide or coercion to commit suicide."