JUROR IN DRUG TRIAL ARRESTED AFTER MISTRIAL DECLARED

On Tuesday afternoon, Fayette County drug prosecutor Mark Brooks thought he
had a major drug case won.

But after the jury announced a guilty verdict in the case, juror Joseph
Samol hung his head and told the judge he wasn't sure that his verdict was
the same as the rest of the panel's, prompting additional deliberations.

It was while the jury continued deliberating throughout the day on
Wednesday that Brooks found out something that he said might have explained
Samol's change of heart: Samol had been under investigation for allegedly
dealing drugs.

Three hours after a judge declared a mistrial in the drug case in which
Samol was a juror, the Hiller man was arrested for allegedly selling a
half-ounce of cocaine to an undercover informant.

"At the start of the day, he was a juror, sitting in an allegedly important
matter in the fate of a drug defendant (Christopher Leake)," Brooks said.
"At the end of the day ... he was sitting in the Fayette County jail."

Authorities charged Leake, 41, of 225 Michael St., Uniontown, with three
counts each of possession, possession with intent to deliver and delivery
of crack cocaine for allegedly selling 5 ounces of cocaine to an undercover
informant.

Brooks said authorities have no evidence of any connection between Samol
and Leake.

Ironically, the state attorney general's office, the same agency that
arrested Leake, was responsible for arresting Samol, 24, of 1012 Chestnut
St., Wednesday night.

Citing safety concerns for the undercover drug agents, Brooks would not say
if any of the specific agents who testified at Leake's drug trial were the
ones who arrested Samol.

The prosecutor did say that Samol heard about the techniques police use in
drug buys as he sat as a juror in Leake's trial.

"He didn't learn anything," Brooks said. "Within three hours of leaving the
courthouse, he was in handcuffs and on his way to jail."

Brooks, who has handled drug prosecutions under the tenure of two district
attorneys, said he was "horrified" to learn that Samol was sitting in
judgment of Leake.

"Obviously, had I known that (Samol) was a suspected cocaine dealer, I
would have exercised a pre-emptory strike on that juror, because I wanted a
fair jury and an impartial jury," Brooks said Thursday.

Before the jury was selected, jurors were questioned, and Brooks said Samol
gave no indication as to why he shouldn't sit on the panel.

With 19 years in law, Brooks said the situation with Samol is the most
unusual he's ever encountered, and he plans to seek a retrial in the Leake
case.

He also said he believed that Samol was the lone holdout on the jury, and
he praised the jurors who held to their beliefs that Leake, who faces a
mandatory nine to 18 years in prison if convicted, was guilty.

Now, Samol faces a mandatory minimum drug sentence of three to six years
behind bars if convicted, Brooks said.

A police affidavit alleged that Samol met an undercover informant at the
Sunoco in Hiller, and exchanged $550 for a half-ounce of powder cocaine.
When the informant gave police the signal that he bought the drugs, the
police moved in to arrest Samol.

He reportedly fled about a quarter-mile and threw the marked money used in
the buy out of the window of his Honda Civic. A short distance later, a
marked car stopped Samol and he was taken into custody.

Brooks and county detective Lawrence Curry said all of the money used in
the buy was recovered.

Samol, according to the arrest affidavit, gave police a written statement
confirming that he left his home and picked up cocaine to sell.