SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO REVIEW MACON COP'S CASE

PERRY - The state attorney general's office will appoint a special
prosecutor to determine whether charges are warranted against a Macon police
officer accused of tipping off a suspect to a pending Perry police drug
raid.

Russ Willard, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said Monday that
the special prosecutor is expected to be appointed in the next few days at
the request of Houston County District Attorney Kelly Burke. Burke recused
himself and his office from the case, said Willard.

Raymond Cross, a former narcotics officer for the Macon Police Department,
has been on administrative leave with pay for several months while under
investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

No formal charges have been filed. Frank Hogue, a Macon attorney
representing Cross, said Cross is not guilty.

"He absolutely did not ... knowingly or inadvertently interfere in an
investigation of another police department," said Hogue.

The GBI turned its investigative file over to Burke to determine whether
charges are warranted. Burke said Monday his office worked closely with a
GBI agent on Cross' case, having asked the GBI to further investigate the
charges. Burke said he wanted to avoid the "appearance of impropriety" and
asked the state to appoint a special prosecutor.

Gary Rothwell, special agent in charge of the GBI Perry office, could not be
reached for comment Monday.

Willard declined to speculate on who will be appointed to handle the case,
but Burke said that he expects Sumter County District Attorney Cecilia
Cooper to be appointed special prosecutor.

Hogue said Burke is reluctant to prosecute the case because he is unable to
prove that Cross did anything wrong. But Burke said if that were true, he
would have dropped the case instead of asking for the attorney general to
appoint a special prosecutor.

Hogue said Burke drafted an indictment against Cross charging in part that
Cross violated his oath as a police officer by telling a person - whom Hogue
did not name - that she was being investigated by the Perry Police
Department. Burke confirmed that he drafted an indictment but declined to
discuss the potential charges.

Hogue said that although Cross is not guilty of any wrongdoing, Cross had
agreed to surrender his police certification for three years in order to
avoid being indicted. Hogue said the damage to the officer's reputation
would have been hard to overcome had he been indicted. However, when the
proposed deal appeared in The Telegraph and on television, the deal was
called off because the damage had been done, Hogue said.

But Burke said he never agreed not to release the specifics of the deal to
the media. Burke said he initially declined comment while the deal was
pending. "But once it was finalized, I'd feel obligated to talk about it,"
Burke said. "The public has a right to know."

Should the special prosecutor take Cross' case before a grand jury, Cross
would have the right to appear before the grand jury with his attorney to
hear the evidence against him and to make a statement to the grand jury,
said Hogue.

Cooper, the district attorney who Burke expects will be asked to prosecute
the case, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Brad Pope, director of investigations for the state's Peace Officer
Standards and Training Council, said Monday that Cross is the subject of the
POST investigation but declined to discuss specifics. Pope said he could not
estimate when the investigation would be completed.

"While we're conducting a case of where there are other cases being
conducted - whether administrative or criminal - we'll wait to the outcome
of those cases so we have a complete package to present to the POST
Council," said Pope.

POST certification is required to be a law enforcement officer in Georgia.