FORMER DEPUTIES' CASES TO PROCEED

LUMBERTON -- The Robeson County district attorney says he plans to
prosecute cases that were handled by deputies who have pleaded guilty
as part of a federal investigation into corruption in the Sheriff's
Office. Johnson Britt said he doesn't think the recent pleas by the
former lawmen will have an adverse effect on the cases.

Britt said he plans to prosecute what he calls victim cases --
murders, assaults and robberies -- where the state can rely on
testimony from victims and other witnesses.

"If you have a confession or statement of omission of responsibility,
there is no grounds to dismiss it," he said. "There may be other
evidence to substantiate the statements. So the former deputies'
involvement doesn't become a major issue."

Sixteen deputies with the Robeson County Sheriff's Office pleaded
guilty between December and May to various charges in U.S. District
Court. Their pleas came after a four-year investigation called
Operation Tarnished Badge. High-ranking officers, including the chief
of detectives and a homicide investigator, were among those accused
of various criminal violations, including conspiracy to violate
racketeering laws, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy
to defraud the government, conspiracy to commit satellite piracy,
conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and
use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. The
number of cases involving the lawmen is in the hundreds, Britt said.
Those cases include forgery, breaking and entering and at least a
dozen murder cases.

"It runs the gamut," Britt said. The District Attorney's Office has
dismissed 200 to 300 drug cases involving 130 defendants since 2004.

Those cases included drug trafficking charges, Britt said. The cases
were investigated by members of the sheriff's Drug Enforcement
Division. Several of its members were charged with racketeering,
conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the
government and conspiracy to commit satellite piracy.

Victim cases will be evaluated to determine whether the state can
resolve them through a plea or whether they will go to trial. So far,
none of the cases involving the deputies has gone to trial, Britt
said. Britt said he doesn't anticipate the state having problems
admitting evidence handled by the former lawmen.

"But, there is always a possibility," he said. "We will address it if
it happens." The credibility of the former lawmen may be questioned
by jurors and by defense lawyers.

"If there is a creditability issue involving any witness, we will
attack it," said Public Defender Angus Thompson, whose office has
seven cases involving the former deputies. "That is just good defense
work." Thompson said his office is looking closely at discovery
material. "We want to know what, if any, part did they play in the
investigation of the case," he said. "Whether they handled evidence,
took statements or whether the statements were coerced or
involuntarily given." The lawmen's pleas have had an effect on the
District Attorney's Office, Thompson said, because the state has had
to review each case. That has meant delays in cases going to trial, he said.

"The cases are not going through the court system because the state
has to reinvestigate their cases with other officers to clean up this
mess," Thompson said.

He said his concern is denying people a speedy trial because of what
these officers did.

Gregory Wallace, an associate professor of law at Campbell
University, said the lawmen's convictions should not prevent the
state from prosecuting its cases. "Unless the former officers
falsified evidence or unless they personally had witnessed the crime,
it may not affect the outcome of the cases," Wallace said. "A
conviction will depend upon the strength of the evidence." "It is all
about relevance," he said. "Whether the deputies' misdeed is relevant
to the case. If their actions did not compromise the investigation,
then I doubt it would have a great effect on the outcome of the case."